The Frost/Nixon star is the creative director for the country’s National Theatre and, to mark Easter weekend (22-24Apr11), he is co-ordinating a production of the traditional dramatisation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ – with everyone from the town involved.
He tells U.K. TV host Fern Britton, “Port Talbot is our stage – the whole town and the community are telling the story. They’re sort of telling their story, the story of the town – it’s a contemporary story, set now in the town, and it’s inspired by the story of the Passion.
“When I was growing up in Port Talbot there used to be a Passion play in a park… I saw that a few times and it really affected me, so when I started thinking about doing something for the National Theatre Wales I started thinking maybe it would be good to do something that could involve the entire community.
“I play a local man, a school teacher, who disappears one day and no-one knows what happened to him. And then 40 days later, on the morning of Good Friday, he reappears on the beach.
“Anyone can come. If you see it you will be part of it – you have to be prepared for that. It’s the most extraordinary thing I’ve ever done.”
