Support our Nation today - please donate here
Culture

Michael Sheen to star in Under Milk Wood at London’s National Theatre

26 Mar 2021 2 minute read
Michael Sheen. Picture by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Michael Sheen is set to star in a new production of Under Milk Wood at the National Theatre in London.

The Welsh actor will star alongside Siân Phillips in the famous play by Dylan Thomas, which was set in the fictional seaside village of Llareggub.

The National Theatre is set to reopen in June and the production will be performed in-the-round in the Olivier theatre.

It was reconfigured last year to accommodate socially distanced audiences for Death of England: Delroy and the panto Dick Whittington.

It is almost 90 years since the teenage Dylan Thomas began to sketch out initial ideas for his “play for voices”, Under Milk Wood.

It had its first stage productions in 1953. Following the poet’s death, it was broadcast on the radio a year later, featuring Richard Burton.

The production in the Olivier theatre, which opens on 16 June will be directed by Lyndsey Turner, and will have additional material by Siân Owen

Sheen’s previous productions at the National include another role made famous by Burton. He played Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger.

The director of the National Theatre, Rufus Norris, told The Guardian, that it had been an “incredibly difficult year” for the industry.

He added that he was looking forward to welcoming back larger audiences soon with “cautious optimism” and said “the magic of live theatre is what we can now begin to look towards: to creating work with our freelance artists and colleagues, to supporting young people’s creativity, and to bringing joy to audiences and communities through imaginative and inspiring live performance”.


Support our Nation today

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.

Our Supporters

All information provided to Nation.Cymru will be handled sensitively and within the boundaries of the Data Protection Act 2018.