LIPA grad to direct Michael Sheen in Welsh National Theatre’s debut season

Acting graduate Francesca Goodridge (2014) is to direct Welsh National Theatre’s first production, Our Town starring Michael Sheen.

Welsh National Theatre was established in January with Michael Sheen as artistic director. His vision for the company is to bring together Welsh talent to create ambitious world class work from Wales and share it internationally. Our Town is a co-production with Rose Theatre, with Russell T Davies as creative associate. 

Francesca's recent credits include Rapunzel, Liverpool Everyman, Rope, Theatr Clwyd and Nye, National Theatre (as associate director). She’s also directed Posh (2022) and Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again (2021) at LIPA. We caught up with Francesca to discuss Our Town, working with Michael Sheen and her time at LIPA. 

To be doing the first show for Welsh National Theatre and for that to be starring Michael Sheen is very exciting but also slightly terrifying! For the production to be opening in my hometown of Swansea and then touring Wales before going to London feels like a brilliant full circle moment. It’s a total privilege and I’m so looking forward to working with Michael and Russell on the inaugural production. 

I spent a lot of time with Michael when we were both working on Nye at the National Theatre. I was associate director to Rufus Norris. We talked a lot about plays that we liked and things that we wanted to do, I also talked to him a lot about theatre in Swansea. Before we’d met though, he’d already seen one of my shows, Sorter at Swansea Grand, which he enjoyed. I like to make work that’s impactful and makes big pictures on stage, stuff that’s very physical, which he really likes. 

I then invited Michael to watch Rope, which I directed at Theatr Clwyd. Afterwards he said, ‘I want you to direct me in something.’ I asked in what, he replied, ‘something big! You pick.’   

I’d seen a production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town at LIPA directed by Nick Bagnall which I loved. I’d directed the students that appeared in Our Town in Posh earlier that year and was there to support them and Nick. I thought it would be a great play to relocate to Wales as it's said Dylan Thomas met Wilder and read Our Town before he wrote Under Milk Wood and there are similar themes in both. Also, the role of The Stage Manager would be perfect for Michael. I spoke to Michael about it, he’d seen a production of it years ago and loved it and had been thinking of it himself! I pitched it to Chris Haydon, Artistic Director of The Rose Theatre in London and they also loved the idea. It fell together perfectly. We found the right play at the right time.  

When I was growing up in Swansea I didn’t go to the theatre really. I certainly didn’t know it existed as a profession. It's really important to me that this play opens in Swansea, so people there can see it without having to travel to Cardiff or even London to see great stories. It will be touring across Wales, it will be accessible.  

I hope people in Swansea and across Wales feel ownership of Our Town. A big play with a big Welsh cast that they get to see before it goes to London, I hope they think, it started here, it’s ours. 

Let the Right One In, Leeds City Varieties. Directed by Francesca, set and costume design by LIPA grad Katie Scott. Image Cian's Cameras

At LIPA I learnt the importance of collaboration, how important it is to build relationships with people in other departments. Speaking to people who went to other drama schools I get the feeling that they never really left their lane. At LIPA some of my best friends were musicians and designers. Over the years the projects I’ve dreamt up haven’t been with other actors, they’ve been with set designers or lighting designers, creatives from other disciplines. Working on a big production is all about collaboration and being at LIPA, where all the courses work together on a show, gave me a real understanding of that.  

Our Town opens at Swansea Grand Theatre in January 2026 before touring Wales and then heading to Rose Theatre, Kingston upon Thames in late February. 

Before then Francesca co-directs Nye, National Theatre in July and directs Worn Out, The Lowry in August and Snake in the Grass, Theatr Clwyd in September. 

Russell T Davies, Michael Sheen and Francesca. Image: Jon Pountney

Find out more about Welsh National Theatre

Find out more about Francesca Goodridge