Michael Sheen’s revived Welsh National Theatre to be based in Swansea

The new Welsh National Theatre set up by Michael Sheen will be based in Swansea, the actor has announced.

Sheen stepped in earlier this year after the Cardiff-based theatre company and charity was forced to close after £1.6m in funding cuts from the Arts Council of Wales.

It was announced on Wednesday that the theatre will be headquartered in Swansea, where the Neath-born actor’s theatre journey began as a member of the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre.

Sheen, the artistic director of the Welsh National Theatre, said: “It feels fitting to come full circle to base Welsh National Theatre in the city. Swansea is a place of creativity, resilience and inspiration and I’m excited by the possibilities this presents not just for artists, but for the people of Wales.”

The theatre company will be based at a “public sector hub” being built on the site of the former St David’s shopping centre in Swansea’s civic centre, Swansea council said. The centre currently houses the country council chamber and a library.

“This isn’t about just an office space, but a cultural hub which welcomes creatives in,” Sheen said, adding that the company is working on plans to make the space come alive before audiences are welcomed in.

Swansea’s council leader, Rob Stewart, described the announcement as a proud moment that showed how far the city had come as a creative hub.

“We’re thrilled that Welsh National Theatre has chosen Swansea as its home. The impact of hosting world-class theatre in Swansea will be transformative. It has the potential to stimulate a new generation of local talent and inspire even more visitors to come,” said Stewart.

The company’s first production – Our Town, by the US playwright Thornton Wilder, which is believed to have inspired Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood – stars Sheen. It will debut at Swansea’s Grand theatre in January before touring Wales and the Rose theatre in Kingston upon Thames.

Next year, the 56-year-old will also play Owain Glyndŵr in Owain & Henry, a new play by Gary Owen about the clash between the last Welsh-born Prince of Wales and King Henry IV, in a Welsh National Theatre and Wales Millennium Centre co-production.

Arts and culture funding in Wales faces a longstanding public crisis. Last year, the Arts Council of Wales warned the country’s professional sector could collapse within a decade, leading the Welsh government to announce an annual £4.4m top-up.

Sheen is self-funding the new Welsh National Theatre “until it can stand on its own two feet”, but is seeking public and private funding.

Its Welsh-language counterpart, Theatr Cymru, was founded in 2003.