What next for National Theatre Wales?

National Theatre Wales’s first year programme came to an end with their triumphant production of The Passion in Port Talbot, and what a way to end their first year. The Passion received great reviews, was watched by an audience of thousands on the streets of Port Talbot, and rejuvenated the town over the Easter weekend. Without a doubt this was the highlight of their first year programme, and garnered as much media attention as all the other productions combined.

However, this first year was a huge collage or collection of journeys around Wales, its varied landscape, locations and communities. Each piece of this zig-zagging journey was just as important as the other. Each location brought a fresh outlook not only to its particular production, but more importantly to the role of the theatre – what it can and should do.

Nowhere was this more apparent than in my favourite production – For Mountain, Sand and Sea in Barmouth. Similar to The Passion, but on a far smaller scale, this production used the whole town – its streets, shore and shops- as a stage. It gave the audience a fresh perspective on the town, and shared the memories and secrets of its residents. This Barmouth was not filled with tourists, tacky souvenirs shops and blaring amusement arcades, but was rather the location for the first piece of land bequeathed to the National Trust, the dramatic death of a circus elephant and the home of the tailor who dressed Mick Jagger and The Beatles. And it says something about the emotional effect of the production, that I remember all those little snippets of information, all those shared secrets, almost a year after seeing the production.

National Theatre Wales have stretched the definition of “theatre”, and perhaps more importantly the “theatre in Wales”, and this has undoubtedly opened many people’s (including my own) eyes to its endless possibilities. No longer is drama the preserve of dusty auditoriums and middle-class, middle-aged theatregoers. NTW have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that theatre is relevant to everyone, and belongs to everyone. This has been achieved by bringing the theatre to the people. This may sound like a trite cliché, but it is true. The company has gone into communities and worked with the residents to create its productions.

This co-operation between the company and residents seems to have been equally meaningful and rewarding to both parties, rather than a theatre company parachuting into a community, bringing with it its own ideas, agenda and grand plan for the production. NTW seems to have been genuinely interested in the opinions, ideas and stories of ordinary people in the communities it has visited. This is apparent from many of its productions (For Mountain Sand and Sea, The Beach, The Passion) where the problems and issues facing local people as well as their memories and anecdotes have been weaved into the show.

My favourite NTW productions have all depended heavily on allowing the audience to share the experiences of local people, as well as retaining a strong link to its location, and a relevance to its community.

Having emphasised the importance of both location and community in its first year, will NTW continue to create location-driven productions in its second year, will it decide to create productions it can tour throughout Wales or a combination of both? We will soon find out as its next programme is unveiled at the end of the month. I for one cannot wait.