Welsh National Theatre has announced its full 2027/28 programme under artistic director Michael Sheen, featuring new productions, development projects, and notable returning talents. The season spotlights a triptych of Samuel Beckett plays starring Siân Phillips, a revival of Frank Vickery’s work, and fresh writing supported by the company.

The 2027/28 season marks a significant moment for Welsh National Theatre as it confirms a slate of productions and initiatives led by Michael Sheen. Central to the season is the return of Siân Phillips, aged 93, who will star in Samuel Beckett’s Rockaby alongside Not I and Footfalls, directed by Richard Beecham. This Beckett triptych will tour Wales and beyond in 2027.

Phillips, whose career spans over eight decades in stage and screen, expressed her excitement about joining the company, calling it “like coming home in every way.” She looks forward to returning to Beckett’s work and reuniting with Beecham, marking a long-awaited homecoming.

A revival of Frank Vickery’s A Night on the Tiles is scheduled for spring 2028, co-produced with RCT Theatres. This production commemorates the tenth anniversary of the Treorchy-born playwright’s death, with Vickery’s grandson Ross Vickery noting the family’s pride in seeing their grandfather’s work reach new audiences.

Katie Payne’s My Mix(ed up) Tape, a production originally produced by Dirty Protest, will make a return in 2027. Supported by Welsh National Theatre, Payne, who writes and performs the piece, will continue touring the show after a sold-out Welsh run and a forthcoming Edinburgh Fringe appearance. Payne highlighted the importance of truthful representation of Welsh working-class women on stage.

The season also includes the previously announced production of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, starring Michael Sheen as Salieri and Callum Scott Howells as Mozart. Directed by Jeremy Herrin, it will open at Cardiff’s New Theatre in March 2027 before transferring to London’s Noël Coward Theatre. This marks Welsh National Theatre’s inaugural West End run.

Alongside productions, Welsh National Theatre is developing new works by writers such as Azuka Oforka, Siân Owen, Rhys Warrington, Emily White, Owen Sheers, Katie Elin-Salt, Mathilde Lopez, and Bethan Marlow. The company also launched a Stage and Screen Writers’ Scheme with Bad Wolf, providing Welsh writers opportunities to develop stage plays and potential television adaptations.

Additional initiatives include partnerships with Oshi’s World to develop sensory theatre for audiences with profound and multiple learning disabilities, and Green Room Coaching to offer therapeutic support to company members. Catrin Mair Jones and Nick Davies were announced as the next Culture Scouts for the company’s talent development programme, Welsh Net.

Discussions are ongoing about a Broadway transfer and international streaming for Playing Burton, starring Matthew Rhys, as well as an international tour of Our Town, demonstrating the company’s expanding influence beyond Wales.