Interview with David Evans

National Theatre Wales (NTW) was launched in 2009 as Wales’ English language national theatre company. Through its first season NTW established a reputation for producing stylistically diverse context-specific theatre that sought to establish a dialogue between performance and place. In September 2023 Arts Council Wales (ACW) announced that it would no longer provide National Theatre Wales (NTW) with multi-year funding. The decision brought to an abrupt end 15 years of financial support for the company and has left its future in jeopardy.

David Evans joined NTW as Head of Production in late 2011 and remained with the company until June 2024. During his time with the company he oversaw the realization of work in aircraft hangars and city streets, on moving trains, in forests, and on mountain- sides. David came to NTW with over twenty years’ experience of freelance production management and international touring. He also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) between 2014 and 2022, and has been Co-Chair of the ABTT since 2021. I conducted this interview with David in July 2024 as a way of understanding how production management works in unusual sites and locations, what sort of negotiations took place between design and production at NTW, the increasing importance of sustainability in design and production, and how production practices might constitute an important part of NTW’s broader legacy.