Across 2025 our productions offer uplifting live theatre experiences, powerful drama and memory-making nights out with friends and family. We’ll be staging six world premieres and giving audiences another opportunity to experience recent must-see shows, with more productions to be announced. Our shows will bring audiences and artists together through the power of live theatre to explore Wales now, where we are going and how we got here.
The 2025 Made at Sherman season includes new plays by Welsh and Wales-based writers including Rebecca Jade Hammond, Hannah McPake, Gwawr Loader, Jennifer Lunn and Lisa Parry.
World premieres:
Hot Chicks by Rebecca Jade Hammond
Directed by Hannah Noone
A co-production with Grand Ambition
Supported by Swansea Council, UK Government, Arts Council of Wales, National Lottery Community Fund, Welsh Government and People’s Postcode Lottery/Postcode Community Trust
21 March – 5 April 2025. On sale: 6 December
Penlan, Swansea. Now.
Teenagers Ruby and Kyla spend their evenings hanging at Cheney’s chicken shop dreaming of moving to Vegas and going viral. A chance encounter with older, cooler Sadie, means their dreams of pool parties and showering in dollars could become a reality…but at what price?
Rebecca Jade Hammond’s ferocious, witty and unsettling new play is contemporary Welsh theatre at its sharpest.
Hot Chicks will also be performed at Swansea Grand Theatre from 16 – 25 April.
Port Talbot Gotta Banksy
Directed by Paul Jenkins
A co-production with Theatr3
Supported by National Theatre Studio and with funding from Arts Council of Wales
1 – 10 May 2025. On sale 6 December
Port Talbot. 2018 – Now.
December 2018, Banksy gifts Port Talbot a unique Christmas present making it an international talking point when one of his murals appears on the garage of a local steelworker. 2024, Port Talbot hits the headlines again with the end of blast furnace steel-making synonymous with the town and the beginning of a new uncertainty.
In the weeks after Banksy’s artwork first appeared, Paul Jenkins and Tracy Harris of Theatr3 spoke to people across the town. What began as a project collecting responses to the first Banksy in Wales, over six years became a portrait of a community and a testament to its character and resilience. Now, the voices of this Welsh community take centre stage, their words performed live by a professional cast.
Port Talbot Gotta Banksy is an urgent new play about people, power and street art. It’s a celebration of the strength of communities to withstand everything life has to throw at them. Join us as the people of Port Talbot share their story in their own words, in this compelling and compassionate verbatim play.
The play will be performed at the Plaza, Port Talbot, Grand Theatre, Swansea, Torch Theatre, Milford Haven and Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham following the run at the Sherman.
Alice: Return to Wonderland by Hannah McPake
28 Nov 2025 – 3 Jan 2026. On sale: 22 November
Cardiff. 1947.
Next Christmas, Hannah McPake (Tales of the Brothers Grimm) will take you on a brand new adventure from bombed out streets in post-war Cardiff and into Wonderland, all from the comfort of your Main House seat. Join us for what promises to be another amazing, joyous and spectacular Christmas show for everyone aged 7+.
The Frog Prince / Biwti a Brogs by Gwawr Loader
Directed by Elin Phillips
A co-production with Theatr Cymru
24 Nov 2025 – 3 Jan 2026. On sale: 22 November
Tre Melys. Now.
Step into the Sherman Studio and enter a magical world with Gwawr Loader’s new version of The Frog Prince by the Brothers Grimm. This is the perfect introduction to the wonder of live theatre for ages 3-6. The Frog Prince / Biwti a Brogs is performed in English and Welsh at separate performances.
Audiences across Wales can experience this enchanting new show as it tours south Wales before the Christmas run of performances and across north and mid Wales in early 2026.
The Pilot by Jennifer Lunn in collaboration with our Introduction to Playwriting participants.
Directed by Francesca Pickard
Introduction to Playwriting is a Sherman Theatre programme for 15 to 18 year olds made possible by the generous support of the Moondance Foundation.
6 – 8 Mar 2025. On sale 6 December.
Capel Celyn, 2065.
An innovative and inspiring new collaboration unites the new voices of our two key creative development programmes with one of Wales’s leading writers to create The Pilot. Award-winning playwright Jennifer Lunn has worked with the current cohort of our Introduction to Playwriting programme, for ages 15-18, to develop this bold new play which will be performed by Sherman Youth Theatre.
Salem by Lisa Parry
Directed by Sara Lloyd
A collaboration with Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama for their NEW festival
May 2025. Exact dates tbc.
Pentre Gwynfryn. Now.
The latest play by Lisa Parry (The Merthyr Stigmatist) will be Sherman Theatre’s ninth collaboration with our close partners, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, and is our 2025 commission for the college’s NEW festival.
Returning by popular demand:
Housemates by Tim Green
Directed by Joe Murphy and Ben Pettitt-Wade
Housemates is supported by funding from Arts Council of Wales.
22 February – 8 March 2025. On sale: 22 November
Cathays, Cardiff. 1973.
The Housemates are back in 2025 by popular demand. Tim Green’s re-telling of a remarkable story which took place just metres from the Sherman’s doors captured the hearts of audiences and won huge praise from critics in 2023. It’s the story of the friends who started a revolution which marked the beginning of the end of institutionalized care with the creation of the UK’s first supported living home.
Performed by a cast of neurodivergent and neurotypical actor-musicians, including members of the Hijinx Academy, Housemates is a foot-tapping, heart-warming, eye-opening night out not to be missed with classic 70s hits played live.
Housemates will tour to Aberystwyth Arts Centre and Torch Theatre, Milford Haven following its run at the Sherman.
The Women of Llanrumney by Azuka Oforka
Directed by Patricia Logue
25 April – 10 May 2025. Now on sale
Wales’ colonial past is confronted head-on in Azuka Oforka’s devastating historical drama which will return in 2025 following its 5 star, sold out premiere run this May. The Women of Llanrumney will play at Sherman Theatre following a run at Stratford East.
Presented by Stratford East and Sherman Theatre. Originally produced by Sherman Theatre.
Announcing the season, Sherman Theatre’s Artistic Director Joe Murphy said: “I’m excited that my final season as Artistic Director of Sherman Theatre blends brand new work, fresh new voices and fresh new ideas with shows returning by popular demand. We will be serving audiences with shows they’ve enjoyed and giving others the opportunity to experience them whilst pushing forward and keeping on challenging. In many ways this season is a convergence of all the work we’ve done since I arrived and it’s a real statement of intent for the future of this extraordinary company. Ultimately, it’s the people who make this place so special. We see this in the exceptional artists at the heart of the season, many of whom have like our audiences been on a journey with us. This season therefore couldn’t be more thrilling or perfect for me.”
Sherman Theatre Chief Executive Julia Barry has said “As we look ahead to 2025, I am delighted that the Sherman is presenting a huge breadth of work, both new and returning, for our audiences. The return of Housemates and The Women of Llanrumney shows the impact of, and the appetite for, new plays that tell local stories and truly connect with our audiences and communities and we can’t wait to share them with wider audiences in 2025. In tandem, we are working with some of the best writers and artists in Wales currently to bring new work to our stages in co-production with some brilliant partners. Both Hot Chicks and Port Talbot’s Gotta Banksy will tell the stories of communities across south Wales shining a light on contemporary issues.
In particular, in 2025, I am thrilled that we are able to showcase the talents of our Introduction to Playwriting participants, who have been working in collaboration with Jen Lunn to write Pilot – specially written to be performed by our Youth Theatre. Offering creative experiences to our communities is central to our work at Sherman Theatre and to combine a number of initiatives into a production for our audiences is hugely exciting.”