| A Fulcrum Year For Theatre |
My Year of Theatre |
| Productions, Companies, Reports, Critics, Readers , Performance & Culture in 2025 , December 29, 2025 |
My production of the year was “Housemates” which was reprised by the Sherman and taken on tour. The last sentence that I wrote on 17th April, from the vantage point of the front row, was uncharacteristically short. It said simply “Housemates” is a fabulous production.” * * * * The watching of “Housemates”- a high water-mark of Joe Murphy's period in Senghenydd Road- prompted a thought that was regular. I saw fifty-seven performances in 2025- one involved just a lone human and a robot. Many were of theatre in England, nearly all at fringe and off-West End venues. I see the quality that gets to be seen in London. I see that productions from Sheffield and Leicester vault to venues in London where they are seen by many. Productions from Cardiff, or indeed from Neath, are of good quality but do not get to long runs. I hesitate from comments of generality about culture. Criticism is about attention to the specific. But others are there to be cited. Matthew Rhys spoke in the Times of 11th October about Richard Burton. “He did have this way of saying to the world “I will take you by the scruff of the neck and make you notice me.” “That's actually a very un-Welsh quality, I sometimes think humbleness is a Welsh refligion. Burton wasn't embarrassed by wealth which is another thing which isn't very Welsh.” * * * * The Soho Place Theatre is the first new West End Theatre to be built in many decades. It is at a busy apex with a huge footfall of passers-by. In the summer posters were emblazoned for a play from the National Theatre of Scotland in co-production. On 27th November National Theatre of Scotland featured in an NT Live satellite broadcast. Jack Lowden and Martin Freeman were in David Ireland's “The Fifth Step”. They were seen in hundreds of cinemas. The National Theatre of Wales did not project Wales across hundreds of cinemas. Indeed the people of Wales still await the announcement of an enquiry into the fate of one of their national arts companies. * * * * The third week of December is not supposed to provide shocks. But that was how it was in 2025. The report by Margaret Hodge into the Arts Council of England was published on 16th December. It endorsed without qualification the continuance of the Council but it was not kind on its practices in recent years. * * * * Critical life and vitality continued to thin in Wales. On Radio Wales' “The Arts Show” of 22nd November 2024 Gary Raymond said of the “No Welsh Art!” exhibition that it “should dominate debates for the time it is on at the National Library of Wales.” 250 art works across the genres, eleven months of exhibition; it brought no debate into being. On 12th December 2025 Radio Wales' “The Arts Show” returned to a restrospective of the year. Emma Scholefield spoke about the ingredients for a culture to flourish: “It's not just plays on stages or books being published. It's the whole circle of discussion and debate and criticism that surrounds that which has always been such a strong and vibrant part of Welsh culture and at the moment there's no sign of that improving at all. It does feel like we're losing that space. “We've always celebrated all sorts of opinions, of voices, discussion, and without that I think we're much weaker. We're at a crossroads. A lot will depend on what happens in the Senedd elections. There's no doubt about that. “I do feel that this ongoing empty space where we used to have a much more vibrant critical scene in Wales is eventually going to become the really insurmountable problem because you can make all the brilliant theatre you want, but if there's not people to talk about it and discuss it and debate it what happens then? Where does it go?” * * * * Much happened in 2025. It was the year in which Richard Burton was commemorated. Fluellen was the company that had championed the dramas of Philip Burton. Fluellen was also the last regular producer of classic theatre. The founders went into retirement. Theatr Clwyd re-opened after a reconstruction costing many millions. The Sherman acquired a new Artistic Director. The Arts Council of Wales took on an artistic director function with a £600,000 Major Productions Fund. It elicited no discussion, apart from the standard monoculture of praise. The Welsh National Theatre was announced to exultation in January- its timeline over the year is recorded below 24th November. The spirit of exultation was maintained until a critical intervention from a Welsh publisher late in the year. In England the venerable Stage newspaper gave up that status to become a monthly magazine. Its coverage of the arts in Wales continued to lack engagement of any seriousness. The reprinting of press releases substituted for reporting. * * * * A quarter-century is a good length of time. 5,000 reviews and articles make for a big record. Not everything is held here, but much is. The accumulated word count is seven times that of “War and Peace.” The reading of reviews and articles on this site rose considerably in 2025. The average monthly number more than doubled to 80,000+ monthly. 2024 had seen a 62% rise over 2023. If a last review is to be written then that of 5th December is a fitting one. A Saturday night; an actor at the peak of his craft; a full house with not an empty seat; an audience on its feet at the end in acclaim. The production arrived after a five-star critical reception in London, below 3rd December. There is much to be done in the way of summation, commentary, the amendment of false reporting. But with “Playing Burton” this reviewer makes a farewell from the critical stage. |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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