Following a major £50m redevelopment, Theatr Clwyd will reopen next year with a new production of hit musical tick, tick…BOOM! (June 2-28 2025)
Directed by the North Wales venue's artistic director Kate Wasserberg, this opening production will be followed by On Wednesdays We Wear Pink, a piece created and performed by Theatr Clwyd’s young people. The season will also include Alan Ayckbourn’s darkly comic thriller Snake in the Grass (September 15-Ocvtober 4) and Welsh playwright Chris Ashworth-Bennion’s The Red Rogue of Bala (November 3-22).
Kate Wasserberg said: “This is a watershed moment for Theatr Clwyd and an absolute honour for me as artistic director.
"I am delighted to open this state-of-the-art building with a season that showcases the extraordinary wealth and diversity of talent to be found in Wales. The season reflects our communities and invites audiences back home to us."
Theatr Clwyd is one of only four theatres in the UK to build sets and props, make costumes and paint scenery in-house. The major redevelopment reimagines the theatre’s public spaces and creates a greener, more efficient and sustainable building. The venue has remained open throughout the development and the annual pantomime, this year Mother Goose - The Rock 'n'Roll Panto, runs November 23-January 29.
The first show of the reopening season, tick, tick…BOOM!, is a semi-autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson about his early career; about the exciting mess of being young, chasing dreams and reaching for greatness. It's not as well known as his most famous work, RENT, though it too is available as a movie (starring Andrew Garfield).
On Wednesdays We Wear Pink will be an exploration of fashion and identity throughout history. Created and performed by young people working with a professional creative team.
In the summer, Theatr Clwyd will once again partner with Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, Wales’ National Welsh language theatre company, for four new short plays about the North Wales experience, commissioned and performed in Welsh at the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham.
Snake in the Grass is Alan Ayckbourn’s comic thriller about family, secrets and murder. Produced with the Octagon Theatre, Bolton.
Welsh writer Chris Ashworth-Bennion’s The Red Rogue of Bala is a drama set in the heart of Denbighshire, based on notorious jailbreaker, poacher and thief, Coch Bach y Bala.
Also announced, in 2026 and beyond, is a new production of Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas’ greatest work, created as part of Craidd, a ground-breaking project improving mainstream theatre representation for and with deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people.
Theatr Clwyd and Chichester Festival Theatre will stage Atlantis, Emily White’s award-winning play about climate change and family in West Wales; Welsh writer Emily Burnett will premiere a family drama and Nia Morais will write a new take on a Victorian gothic classic. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night will be directed by Juliette Manon as a celebration of queer culture.
Opened in 1976, the award-winning Theatr Clwyd is Wales’ largest producing theatre. In 2021 it was named The Stage’s Regional Theatre of The Year.
More info here