11 theatres aim for a more connected, resilient and accessible National Theatre

Announced today, Mayflower, Southampton joins National Theatre Nationwide: a new landmark partnership with 12 leading theatres in all nine regions of England dedicated to ensuring parity of access to art and culture, enriching people’s lives - wherever they live.

The network is envisioned as a cornerstone for a more connected, resilient and accessible National Theatre that is present across the nation, with different facets of the scheme to be developed over time subject to funding, with a clear ambition to grow the impact of the model. 

Today’s announcement, as the first initiative for the network, centres on the partners shared, deep commitment to boosting the touring ecology.

This includes touring National Theatre productions direct from its London stages with the original cast with venues in all English regions, supported by Arts Council England. In addition, there will be subsidised ticketing and new schools touring productions across the country.

This addresses one of the key challenges to achieving parity of access: the decline in the number of touring productions around the country. Recent research from Arts Council England shows that the number of plays touring England has fallen by 64% since 2019.  

The Nationwide partnership proudly brings together the expertise and reach of Mayflower, Southampton alongside eleven other theatres across England: Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, Birmingham Hippodrome, Leeds Heritage Theatres, Curve, Leicester, Lowry in Salford,  Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Norwich Theatre, Sheffield Theatres, Theatre Royal Plymouth and Theatre Royal, Nottingham. 

As part of the partnership, a new Nationwide schools touring programme will deliver original, curriculum-linked productions directly into a range of primary and secondary schools and local venues each year. 

In a co-production with the Unicorn Theatre, the UK’s leading theatre for young people, a new version of The Last Wild for primary school and family audiences will be adapted by Jude Christian from the award-winning eco-thriller by Piers Torday. It will be directed by the Unicorn Theatre’s Artistic Director Rachel Bagshaw, opening at the Unicorn Theatre from 30 January - 7 March 2027.

Packed with action, heart and humour, The Last Wild is an epic adventure about courage, friendship and fighting for a world worth saving. The production is creatively captioned and will go on a national tour in 2027 including across South East in partnership with Mayflower, Southampton. The primary touring performances are free for all schools thanks to Hearn funding. 

Kate Varah, Executive Director & Co-Chief Executive of the National Theatre said:

“Today’s announcement is rooted in the National Theatre’s overarching commitment to ensure people across the nation can experience and benefit from our work and impact. Fresh analysis, supported by McKinsey, highlights that the National Theatre puts £241m back into the UK economy each year, £87m of which already flows into regional economies.

This new Nationwide partnership will deepen and grow that contribution, not only ensuring the long-term resilience of the theatre but crucially, supporting local communities and businesses, schools, teachers and their students, the growth of future audiences, and engendering pride in place. 

“What better way to launch this partnership with 12 outstanding partners than with a strong commitment to touring between all of our venues, including bringing main stage National Theatre productions with the original cast to audiences across England, alongside our schools’ productions of Bacchae and The Last Wild.

Together with our new Nationwide partners, we are grateful to Arts Council England for this significant and timely investment in the touring ecology, recognising the vital role it plays in widening access to live performance; as well as the many existing National Theatre supporters whose generosity makes the range and breadth of this work possible.”   

Hannah Lake, Director, Touring Transformation, Arts Council England said:

“Touring plays a crucial role in our cultural landscape, ensuring people can access the very best art and culture close to where they live. This innovative new partnership bringing work directly from the renowned National Theatre stages to major theatres across every English region, alongside an extensive programme engaging young people in theatre through schools’ productions does just that, which is why we are so pleased to be supporting it. Our research shows a decline in drama touring in recent years and we hope this significant investment, in addition to our own work of reimagining how best we can support touring, including the development of a new Touring Service, will work to combat that and grow audiences for the future.”

Michael Ockwell, Chief Executive of Mayflower said:

“We are delighted to be partnering with the National Theatre on this new nationwide scheme which will ensure high quality theatre is accessible to the people of Southampton. As part of this scheme, we will first present The Last Wild at Mayflower Studios which will be ideal for family audiences and primary school-aged children. We look forward to working with the National Theatre and are excited by the opportunities that this partnership will offer.”