The Sherman Theatre (Welsh : Theatr y Sherman) is a venue in the Cathays district of Cardiff. It was built as a twin-auditorium venue in 1973 with financial support from University College Cardiff (now Cardiff University). [1] Sherman Cymru was the name of the Sherman Theatre between 2007 and 2016 when the name changed back to Sherman Theatre.
The theatre is named after the Sherman brothers, the founder of Sherman's Football Pools, who financed its construction. [2]
C.W.L (Bill) Bevan, Principal of University College Cardiff (now Cardiff University) convenes a working party and invites Geoffrey Axworthy to put forward a proposal to use a subsantial donation (provided by the Harry & Abe foundation) to create a new major arts centre in the city. [3]
The Sherman Theatre officially opened its doors for the first time on the 3rd of October, 1973 with a screening of Ken Russel's The Savage Messiah. However, the official opening would follow on November 23, 1973, which saw the Duke of Edinburgh officially opening the theatre. [1]
Within the premises are two performance spaces: the main auditorium with 452 seats, and the studio / arena which seats 100. The Sherman Theatre Company and Sgript Cymru merged in April 2007 to form a new company, called Sherman Cymru, based at the Sherman Theatre. [4]
Between 1990 and 2006 the Artistic Director of the Sherman was Phil Clark. Between 1993 and 97 a number of plays were filmed for television by HTV under the series title The Sherman Plays. The current Artistic Director of the theatre is Joe Murphy.
The Sherman won the UK Theatre Award for "Best New Play 2015", for Gary Owen's Iphigenia in Splott. [5] Sophie Melville's performance in this production received The Stage Award for Acting Excellence at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2015. [6] The production transferred to the UK National Theatre's Temporary Theatre in January 2015, making this the first Welsh play to transfer straight to the National Theatre.[ citation needed ] Iphigenia in Splott then went on to win the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Drama in 2016. [7]
Gary Owen and Rachel O'Riordan’s next collaboration, Killology, won the award for Outstanding Achievement at an Affiliate Theatre at the Olivier Awards in 2018. [8] [9]
The Sherman won the Edinburgh Fringe First award and a Herald Angel Award in 2008 for their touring play Deep Cut, which dramatised the real-life deaths of four trainees at Deepcut Army Barracks. [10]
The theatre was originally designed by Alex Gordon and Partners in the same dark brown brick as the Cardiff University Students' Union building next door, and was completed in 1973. [11] It was modernised and refurbished in 2010–12 by Jonathan Adams, internally reorganised and with a distinctive new metal-clad facade. [12]
Sherman Theatre won Regional Theatre of the Year Award at The Stage Awards 2018. [13]
Splott is a district and community in the south of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, just east of the city centre. It was built up in the late 19th century on the land of two farms of the same name: Upper Splott and Lower Splott Farms. Splott is characterised by its once vast steelworks and rows of tightly knit terraced houses. The suburb of Splott falls into the Splott electoral ward.
Matthew Rhys Evans is a Welsh actor. He gained recognition for playing Kevin Walker in the family drama series Brothers & Sisters (2006–2011) and Philip Jennings in the spy drama series The Americans (2013–2018), the latter of which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2018. He was Emmy-nominated for playing Chuck Palmer in Girls (2017) and the title role in the period series Perry Mason (2020–2023).
Eve Myles is a Welsh actress. She is best known for her television roles portraying Ceri Lewis in the long-running BBC Wales drama series Belonging (2000–2009), Gwen Cooper in the BBC science-fiction series Torchwood (2006–2011), and Faith Howells in the bilingually produced BBC / S4C drama series Keeping Faith / Un Bore Mercher (2017–2020). She is also an accomplished theatre actress.
Paines Plough is a touring theatre company founded in 1974, currently led by Artistic Directors Charlotte Bennett and Katie Posner.
Helen Griffin was a Welsh actress, playwright and screenwriter. Born in Swansea, Wales, she appeared regularly in Welsh theatre and television and wrote and starred in the 2005 film Little White Lies. She also appeared in the 2006 Doctor Who episodes "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel".
Mark Lewis Jones is a Welsh actor, whose roles include that of a First Order Captain Moden Canady in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, a police inspector in BBC drama series 55 Degrees North, a whaler in the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, soldier Tecton in Troy and Rob Morgan in the series Stella. He is known for being the voice of Letho of Gulet the King Slayer in The Witcher 2 and 3.
Gary Owen is a Welsh playwright, and winner of the 2003 Meyer-Whitworth Award for new writing for the theatre.
Dic Edwards is a British playwright, poet and teacher of creative writing. His writing often touches upon political and social issues, nationalism and democracy.
Deep Cut is a play to date performed by Cardiff theatre company Sherman Cymru and written by Philip Ralph. It premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 2008 and won the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award in the same year as well as best Actor and Best Actress awards with The Stage's Stage Awards for Acting Excellence. It concerns the death by gunshot of four trainees and the aftermath at Deepcut Barracks in Surrey (1995–2002) and is based on firsthand testimonies. The play transferred to the Tricycle Theatre for a four-week run in 2009.
Owen Thomas is a playwright, originally from Mid Wales who is now living and working in Cardiff.
Alan Harris is a Welsh playwright and television writer.
National Theatre Wales (NTW) is a charity and theatre company based in Wales.
Rob Evans born 14 March 1978 is a playwright.
Rachel O'Riordan is an Irish theatre director. She is currently the artistic director at the Lyric Hammersmith, London.
Lisa Parry is a playwright, based in Cardiff. Her work has been staged by leading new writing companies in the UK and USA. She has been shortlisted for various awards, including Theatre Uncut's Political Playwriting Award, the BBC Audio Awardsand her drama NOT was named one of the RSC's 37 Plays.
Kaite O'Reilly FRSL is UK-based playwright, author and dramaturge of Irish descent. She has won multiple awards for her work, including the Ted Hughes Award (2011) for her version of Aeschylus's tragedy The Persians. O'Reilly's plays have been performed at venues across the UK and at the Edinburgh Festival. Her work has also been shown internationally including in Europe Australia, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. O'Reilly openly identifies as a disabled artist and has spoken of the importance of "identifying socially and politically as disabled" to her work. In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Sarah Grochala is a British playwright. Her plays have been performed at the Finborough Theatre, Theatre503, Hampstead Theatre, Arcola Theatre and Soho Theatre in London. Her plays have been produced internationally by the Griffin Theatre, Sydney, Tiyatro Yan Etki Istanbul, Turkey and on the Toronto Fringe Toronto Fringe Festival, Canada. Her book on playwriting, The Contemporary Political Play, was published in 2017.
Callum Scott Howells is a Welsh actor, singer, and talent show contestant who began his career as a child. He is known for his role as Colin Morris-Jones in the Channel 4 drama It's a Sin (2021).
Sophie Melville is a Welsh actor of stage and screen from Swansea, Wales. She has been the recipient of best actress at the Stage Awards for Acting Excellence and nominated for the Outstanding Solo Performance at the Drama Desk Awards and the Best Actress Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for her work in Iphigenia in Splott.
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