National Theatre Wales & Out Of Joint to Present CROUCH, TOUCH, PAUSE, ENGAGE

National Theatre Wales' first production in 2015, and the last of its fourth season, will be a new, touring, verbatim play made with Out of Joint and directed by Max Stafford-Clark.

"I was doing something nobody had done before, and if you're the first to do something, you have to be prepared to take the sh*t for it."

On the eve of one of the most important games of his career, Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas received a warning: The Sun newspaper was going to "out" him as gay.

This is the story of two Welsh names bruised, but not beaten, by media speculation; Gareth "Alfie" Thomas, 100 caps for Wales, once its captain, now the world's most prominent gay sportsman; and his hometown, Bridgend.

Working with Alfie himself, and young people in Bridgend, two of the UK's most exciting theatre companies - Out of Joint and National Theatre Wales - have teamed up to tell a great story about sport, politics, secrets, life and learning to be yourself.

Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage will open at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, in February 2015, before touring Wales and England (including London). Full details about the show's tour, and its cast, are to be announced in the new year.

Writer Robin Soans is celebrated for his documentary verbatim plays based on interviews with real people, including Out of Joint's acclaimed shows Mixed Up North, A State Affair and Talking to Terrorists which was nominated Best Play at the TMA awards and has had subsequent productions overseas including in Tehran. Others include Life After Scandal about Christine and Neil Hamilton, and The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, which also spawned a book of recipes. His most recent play was the fictional drama Perseverance Drive, which played to great praise at the Bush Theatre in 2014.

Director Max Stafford-Clark co-founded Joint Stock Theatre Group in 1974 following his Artistic Directorship of The Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. From 1979 to 1993, he was Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre, after which he founded Out of Joint. His work as a director has overwhelmingly been with new writing, and he has commissioned and directed first productions from writers including Sue Townsend, Stephen Jeffreys, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Sebastian Barry, April de Angelis, Mark Ravenhill, Andrea Dunbar, Alistair Beaton, David Hare and Caryl Churchill. Additionally he has directed for the RSC, Sydney Theatre Company, New York's Roundabout Theater and most recently The Seagull for Culture Project, New York. His books are Letters to George, Taking Stock and Journal of the Plague Year.

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