National Theatre

Edda Sharpe, a Merseyside-based voice and dialect coach who has worked with actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, said there were some specific challenges to taking on the voice of a Beatle.

In 2024, the 40 best-funded theatre companies that make their own productions - ranging from the National Theatre to the Colchester Mercury - opened 229 original productions, compared with 332 in 2014, a drop of 31%.

Funding cuts and rising costs took much of the blame, with National Theatre executive director Kate Varah recently saying many in the industry are at "breaking point".

He was last on the London stage in a 2017 adaptation of the Oscar-winning movie Network, also directed by Van Hove, at the National Theatre.

Owain & Henry will tell the story of Glyndŵr's rebellion against English rule in Wales during the 15th Century, in one of the first productions announced by Welsh National Theatre, Sheen's own theatre company.