Dirty Protest

Wales' new writing theatre company

leading award-winning development, promotion and production of new writing for performance across wales and internationally

Theatrical tequila without the paraphernalia all for the price of a pint

Launched in 2007, the award-winning Dirty Protest Theatre has worked with more than 350 Welsh writers, staging new sell-out plays in theatres and alternative venues, including pubs and clubs, kebab shops, hairdressers, bus stops and a forest!

Winner of 2013 Best Production Wales Critics Choice at the Theatre Critics of Wales awards for the premiere of Katherine Chandler's Parallel Lines, our subsequent touring productions over more than a decade have received critical acclaim, been added to multiple international showcases, been turned into BBC BAFTA-award winning TV shows, and led to big commissions for artists at internationally renowned theatres.

Alongside our full length productions, the core of our activity are our Dirty Protest “shorts nights”: short play events which we stage across Wales as a peripatetic (travelling) company. We work from our North Wales home in Wrexham and our South Wales home in Newport, to travel to wherever there are exciting stories to celebrate.

We put on established, early career AND wannabe writers on the same platform, providing opportunities for writers, directors and actors to grow, learn and build their profiles and make connections. Audiences find their next favourite actor, play, and have a great night out.

We work in collaboration and partnership, and are proud to have worked with Welsh and UK colleagues including the Royal Court theatre, the Almeida theatre, Traverse Edinburgh, Soho Theatre, Sherman Theatre, Theatr Clwyd, National Theatre Wales, Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, Latitude Festival, Festival No.6, Troyfest, Awen Cultural Trust, Pontio Bangor, Galeri Caernarfon, Torch Theatr Milford Haven, Ty Pawb Wrexham, RCT Theatres, Chapter Cardiff, Le Pub Newport, Newport City Council, Pembroke Dock Town Council, Menter Iaith Casnewydd, Age Cymru, Natural Resources Wales, and many more arts companies, charities, third sector organisations, local authorities, and corporate companies.

Internationally, we have partnered with companies across the Americas, Europe, Australia and East Asia, including recent collaborative events with Fishamble, the new play company of Ireland, and People’s Palace Projects in Brazil . We are members of the Eureka Network supporting international collaboration between Europe and Latin America around arts supporting young people’s mental health. We help run and are members of Arts in Rural European Areas (AREA) and active members of IETM international performing arts network, supporting artists to expand their own international networks and showcasing capacities.

Dirty Protest Theatre is: 

Artistic Director: Catherine Paskell

Associate Directors: Matthew Bulgo, Branwen Davies

Production Manager: Dave Beever

General Manager: Laura Dalgleish

Dirty Protest Theatre’s Board is: Nick Davies (Chair), Connor Allen, Kate Borde, Devinda De Silva, Rosie Dow, Rebecca Gould, Gwawr Lloyd, James Owen, James Robinson

Dirty Protest Theatre Ltd (Registered in England and Wales): Company number 10584406

Registered address for post: 37 Cumberland Street, Cardiff CF5 1LT

SUPPORTED WITH FUNDING FROM THE ARTS COUNCIL OF WALES, NATIONAL LOTTERY AND WELSH GOVERNMENT