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Chris Ricketts of Sherman Cymru explores the developing idea of national identity in Wales.

Maes Terfyn (Autumn 07). Female in a blue dress looking out to sea

In our diverse, pluralised society the time has passed when any notion that national identity can be easily defined holds true. We are in too strong a maelstrom of political and economic forces, migration, social redefinition and technological change for certain positions to be maintained and consensus achieved.

Impressions of identity may be shaped by history, and may appear true in the immediacy of major events, but as theatre makers we are not easy identity makers. We can provoke and illuminate, and are at our most potent when our thinking is ahead of, or outside, society’s expectations. But our truths do not come from making caricatures of ourselves or others in the hope of becoming more meaningful or interesting. Our audiences want to leave our theatres with a different sense of their lives than when they arrived. They might not acknowledge that, or may be afraid to admit it, but it is what we do best and why theatre must continue to resonate within our society.

So what of Wales? Our cultural landscape has changed significantly over the past decade. This is partly as a result of local government reorganisation in 1996, and its effect on both local government arts spending and changes in Arts Council of Wales priorities; more significantly it is also a result of devolution and the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales and its funding priorities.

Political changes since devolution have begun to achieve a marked impact on contemporary ideas of Welsh identity and our perceptions of Wales. There is a different sense of what might be possible and what we can now achieve and shape for ourselves. Integral to that has been the priority given to the Welsh language. The visible evidence of Wales as a bilingual, or dual-lingual, nation is now far more widespread. Importantly, demographic change is seeing a shift of Welsh speakers from rural to urban environments, which will have a major social and cultural impact.

In the cultural field, the Welsh Assembly Government has prioritised the strengthening of national institutions, or created them where they didn’t exist. This is shown in the investment and support for the Wales Millennium Centre and its resident organisations, the creation of Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru (the Welsh language national theatre company) and, most recently, the decision to establish an English language National Theatre for Wales. Sherman Cymru was created in April 2007 through the merger of Sgript Cymru, the national company for contemporary drama in Wales since 2000, and the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff’s producing and presenting venue.

At the heart of what we seek to achieve – through both English and Welsh language production and programming – are commitments to develop and champion the work of Welsh and Wales-based writers, to foster the involvement of young people in theatre, and to encourage the development of emerging artists. We want the work we create to be compelling and ambitious, and our programming to be confident, distinct and diverse.
The creation of Sherman Cymru strengthens the institutional position of Welsh language theatre in Cardiff, home for many of Wales’s theatre practitioners, providing a stronger platform in the capital city through which work in both languages can be created and find an audience.

What interests me in any exploration of cultural identity is the search for qualities or characteristics that have genuinely deeper social roots. Does an interest in ensemble theatre practice stem from the communitarian and political values that shaped 20th century Wales, or is that itself a cliché? If there are crossing points between our work and national identity, they are less concrete, and more about how we think and act as an organisation – our confidence and our willingness to experiment, how we let society around us shape our programming decisions, how we relate intra-nationally and how we frame our relationships inter-nationally. We have our own axis for the spinning world.

Chris Ricketts has been Director of Sherman Cymru since early 2007. He was previously Director of Wales Arts International, the partnership between the Arts Council of Wales and British Council Wales.

w: http://www.shermancymru.co.uk