‘I was never taught Welsh history’: Michael Sheen on reclaiming rebel leader Owain Glyndŵr

There are myriad films, plays and books focusing on heroes of English, Scottish and Irish history but far fewer that tell the stories of the great figures of Wales.A major new play about the Welsh nobleman Owain Glyndŵr’s early 15th-century rebellion against the English crown will help redress the balance this autumn.Michael Sheen, who will play Glyndŵr, said one of the main rationales for staging the show was simply that the rebel leader’s story had never before been told on such a large scale.“We’re talking about a figure voted the second most important Welsh person of all time, only behind Aneurin Bevan [the architect of the NHS],” Sheen said. “But nobody’s ever done anything about him on this scale before. That tells a story in itself.”Sheen said when growing up in south Wales he had not been taught about Glyndŵr’s rebellion against Henry IV. “He meant absolutely nothing. I was never taught about him. He’s in the cultural collective consciousness so at some point I became aware of his name but I knew nothing about his story,” he said.“I was never taught Welsh history. It wasn’t on the curriculum. And again, that tells you something.”Michael Sheen said Owain Glyndŵr was in the cultural collective consciousness but he had known little about his story. Photograph: Dimitris Legakis/Athena PicturesOwain & Henry, will be performed at the Donald Gordon theatre at Wales-millennium-centre" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="199181" data-entity-type="location">Wales Millennium Centre, the second biggest stage in Europe, by Sheen’s fledgling company, Welsh National Theatre.Sheen said there were very few ambitious, large-scale Welsh plays written for big theatre spaces. “For most Welsh playwrights, the reality of getting your play produced is that you probably have to write for a studio space. Maybe a couple of weeks’ run. And maybe a cast of maybe two or three. Beyond that, it becomes very difficult.”Sheen said the Olivier award-winning Welsh playwright Gary Owen had only felt able to create a sweeping version of the Glyndŵr story when the pandemic seemed to make it unlikely that it would ever be produced.He said: “During Covid, during the lockdown, he thought, no one’s going to ever see this play anyway, so I might as well write it the way I want to write it.”A painting of Owain Glyndŵr in battle by AC Michael. Photograph: Lordprice Collection/AlamySheen described Glyndŵr as a very unlikely rebel. “He was born into privilege. He inherited estates. He worked in the service of English noblemen. Fought on behalf of the English king, Richard II, in Scotland. Fought against the French. He was taught at the Inns of Court.“But then he got into a land dispute with his neighbour [the Englishman Reginald de Grey]. And this land dispute grew and grew and grew until eventually he was essentially being called a traitor.“He wasn’t the big crusading rebel leader. He found himself in a position where he had to fight back, otherwise really bad things were going to happen for him and his family. So he was sort of forced into it.”Sheen said he thought the Glyndŵr story, which will be performed in English, was relevant today. “Just putting it on is important, I think, but also the story is a kind of catalyst for a conversation that we very much need to have at the moment.”Earlier this year, the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru won the Welsh Senedd elections in spectacular fashion, ending 100 years of Labour rule in Wales.It means that two governments – the devolved Plaid Welsh administration and the Labour UK government – have a say in the life of Welsh citizens.Sheen said: “The old has been swept away. And the immediate future of Wales is essentially in the hands of two very different visions of what it is to be Welsh, what Welsh identity is, what Welsh nationhood can be.“This play speaks to that absolutely. Even though we’re talking about events in the early 1400s, it speaks to us right now in a more urgent way than I could ever have imagined.Owain & Henry will be staged at the Donald Gordon theatre at the Wales-millennium-centre" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="199181" data-entity-type="location">Wales Millennium Centre from 5 November. Photograph: Geography Photos/Universal Images Group/Getty“But also beyond Wales, it’s looking at what is it to be a leader? What is leadership? What is a responsible use of power? Is might right? They’re all things that feel very, alive right now.”Sheen said Glyndŵr’s world was a brutal one. “It was a world where everything was changing. You’ve got a man on the throne [Henry IV] where there are questions of legitimacy around him. And therefore there is a kind of febrile nature to the politics of that time. It feels very of now where the political floor is shifting all the time.”Sheen said it was “early days” for the new Plaid government. He has invited the Welsh administration to engage with him over the dumping of toxic waste in Wales, a subject the actor has highlighted in a documentary.“But as yet, that has not happened. There’s also been a lot of talk about wanting to support the arts. But, you know, we’ll see what happens. This is the thing, isn’t it? When you actually get into power, then it’s not about talk any more, it’s about doing stuff.”Does he hope that Welsh ministers will come and watch the play? “Oh, they will come and watch it. It’ll ask a lot of questions. This is not in any way a sort of cloaked support for any particular party. It’s about values and beliefs, but they’ll come and watch it.”