He has been celebrated for playing the roles of a British prime minister and an English king but the Welsh actor Michael Sheen is now relishing the prospect of starring as a noted leader from his homeland – Owain Glyndŵr, the medieval Prince of Wales.
Sheen will take the lead in a new play, Owain & Henry, to be staged by his fledgling company, Welsh National Theatre, and hopes it will become a “defining moment” for Wales, triggering conversations about how it became the country it is, the pressing social issues it faces and the question of independence.
Sheen said the play, written in blank verse by the Welsh playwright Gary Owen, was a “stonking epic”, challenging the depiction of Shakespeare’s unflattering picture of Glyndŵr in his Henry IV plays.
“The Owain that Gary has written is incredibly pragmatic, very real, dealing with the really difficult and sometimes disturbing choices a leader has to make,” he said “The play is brutal at times, it’s funny, subversive, challenging, controversial. When I first read it, I got to about five scenes in and thought, it can’t keep up like this but it does.”
Glyndŵr led a rebellion against the English crown in the 15th century and remains a hugely revered figure in Wales.
Sheen said: “It’s not just a historical piece, it speaks to now, who we are, where we’ve come from, why we struggle. Why is Wales behind in so many things, why is it so easy to cut away at our culture? Did we never have the same aspiration to build our nations that other countries have? This play’s about that.”
The issue of independence is bound to arise. Sheen said: “My position is that it’s really good to talk about it and explore it; my worry is that in Wales discussion about independence and related issues gets shut down. The platforms to discuss that at a national level are so meagre, so it’s great that in our first year we’re putting front and centre who we are and who we could have been.”
The play is to open at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff in November next year . “Playing the Welsh prince on one of Europe’s biggest stages in our capital city will, I hope, be a defining moment for us as a people, and a culture,” said Sheen, whose famous roles have included Tony Blair and Henry V.
Sheen will also take the lead in a second show from Welsh National Theatre, a version of Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town, which will be set in a small Welsh community rather than an American one.
It will open in Swansea in January 2026 before heading to Llandudno and Mold in north Wales, then on to Kingston upon Thames, south-west London. The Doctor Who show runner Russell T Davies will be a creative associate on the play.
The Welsh National Theatre came into being after National Theatre Wales announced it had “ceased to exist” following the loss of its Arts Council of Wales funding. It has evolved into Team (theatre, education, arts, music), focusing on grassroots work.
Arts Council of Wales has confirmed transition funding to help the new theatre develop its structures and vision.
Owain and Henry is co-produced with Wales Millennium Centre and Our Town with the Rose Theatre in Kingston Upon Thames.
As well as announcing the first new productions on Wednesday, the theatre announced it was commissioning plays from writers including Azuka Oforka.
It is looking at establishing “a creative engine room” in Wales and a scouting network that will search for new talent.
Sheen said: “Growing up in Port Talbot, playing football on a pitch next to the A48, I always knew there was a chance that a scout might be watching. I want every youngster, amateur and professional performing or working behind the scenes in Wales to have that same potential pathway to the creative top flight.”
