Port Talbot Gotta Banksy
December 2018. Banksy gifts Port Talbot a unique Christmas present making it an international talking point when one of his murals appears on the garage of a local steelworker. 2024. Port Talbot hits the headlines again with the end of blast furnace steel-making synonymous with the town and the beginning of a new uncertainty.
In the weeks after Banksy’s artwork first appeared, Paul Jenkins and Tracy Harris of Theatr3 spoke to people across the town. What began as a project collecting responses to the first Banksy in Wales, over six years became a portrait of a community and a testament to its character and resilience. Now, the voices of this Welsh community take centre stage, their words performed live by a professional cast.
Port Talbot Gotta Banksy is an urgent new play about people, power and street art. It’s a celebration of the strength of communities to withstand everything life has to throw at them. Join us as the people of Port Talbot share their story in their own words, in this compelling and compassionate verbatim play.
Co-produced with the Sherman Theatre and supported by National Theatre Studio and funding from Arts Council of Wales.
In May 2025, Port Talbot’s Gotta Banksy debuted at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff before embarking an a tour across Wales to: Plaza, Port Talbot, Grand Theatre, Swansea, Torch Theatre, Milford Haven and Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham.
Creative Team
Cast Jalisa Andrews, Matthew Bulgo, Holly Carpenter, Ioan Hefin, Simon Nehan and Kerry Joy Stewart
Writer/Director Paul Jenkins
Writer Tracy Harris
Assistant Director Nia Morris
Movement Director Lucy Cullingford
Producer Tom Bevan
Design Cai Dyfan
Lighting designer Cara Hood
Sound designer Georgina Nobbs
Video design Apel Studios - Andy Pike & Ethan Lloyd
Additional composition Dai Griffiths
Costume supervisor Fenna de Jonge
“An important theatrical corrective, giving voice to those who are so often sidelined” The Guardian
"a portrait of a community which embraces and celebrates all of its complexity with humour and heart”
★★★★★ Plays to See
"Port Talbot Gotta Banksy pulls you through a whirlwind of emotions as ever changing and flighty as the emotions of the town itself” ★★★★ Get The Chance
“Full of art, heart and questions of a town’s present and future” The Stage
