Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and Richard Burton Company present
New'25
Wed - Fri, 6pm & 8pm
Wed - Fri matinees, 2pm
Welcome to Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama's annual festival of new writing, featuring four new commissions from some of the UK's most exciting playwrights.
Lisa Parry
Samuel Bailey
Dipo Baruwa-Etti
Vivienne Franzmann
RWCMD’s acclaimed annual new writing festival, NEW, works closely with leading writers and directors on new plays commissioned by the College in association with companies like Paines Plough and Sherman Theatre. Productions premiere at the College’s home in Cardiff before moving to London.
Salem by Lisa Parry
Toggle11 & 13 Jun 6pm | 12 & 14 Jun 2pm
Capel Salem, Gwynedd. In 2025, two Welsh nationalists hide out with ‘Salem’ – a painting they’ve stolen from a Liverpool art gallery to decolonise Welsh art. In 1908, Sydney Curnow Vosper paints, his vision disputed by its sitters. Is it possible to ever prescribe a work of art’s meaning? In collaboration with Sherman Theatre
An Armed Robbery in a Petrol Station off the A38 by Samuel Bailey
Toggle12 & 14 June 6pm | 11 & 13 June 2pm
Darren is desperate. He's lost his job, his girlfriend Kayleigh has kicked him out and his Mum needs help with her shopping. So he's going to rob a petrol station - it's the only thing he can think to do. But what should be a quick pay-day turns into a high-stakes hostage situation, and a lesson in line-dancing.
Children of the West by Dipo Baruwa-Etti
Toggle19 & 21 June 6pm | 18 & 20 June 2pm
Borders are shut. The country is underpopulated. Citizens are required to have children. Nia, a prominent journalist, has always sat on the fence about these regulations despite it impacting her and her husband’s lives. As she seeks to escape from the country and tell the story of what’s happening in a now isolated nation, she is forced to interrogate the cost of what she’s leaving behind. What does it mean to have a significant part of your life forced upon you? Dystopian drama that explores love, parenthood, and free will.
In collaboration with Paines Plough
Into the Light by Vivienne Franzmann
Toggle18 & 20 June 6pm | 19 & 21 June 2pm
A forest. Nine main characters. A series of vignettes interweave into a patchwork of contemporary stories.
Show Warnings
ToggleContains adult themes - please check individual show pages for show warnings.
Multibuy
ToggleGet 10% off when you book 2 or more shows within New'25. Offer only applicable on standard tickets excluding concessions.
Salem writer Lisa Parry
An Armed Robbery in a Petrol Station off the A38 writer Samuel Bailey
Children of the West writer Dipo Baruwa-Etti
Into the Light writer Vivienne Franzman
Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama’s inhouse theatre company, the Richard Burton Company, is made up of actors, stage managers, theatre designers and musical theatre performers in their final year of training at the College. As one of Wales’ most prolific repertory companies, it reimagines classics through a modern lens, and presents contemporary drama, new writing and musical theatre that reflects society today. Staging numerous productions to both Cardiff and London audiences, it empowers its students as creatives, working with some of the UK's best theatre makers and industry leaders with a professional focus.