Training, creative community and new work, rooted in Wales.
HWYL STUDIO
Hwyl Studio is Dog With A Bone’s home for performer development, creative retreats, original plays and musicals, adaptations and bespoke commissions. We bring people together to develop their craft, explore ideas and create work for audiences. From graduates continuing their training to writers developing new stories and organisations commissioning something bespoke, Hwyl Studio offers a place to keep growing and creating.
For us, Hwyl captures the energy of creating together.
It’s the feeling in a rehearsal room when something clicks. The enjoyment of practising your craft alongside people who understand it. The excitement of discovering what an idea could become. That spirit connects everything within the Studio. Our training, retreats and productions share a commitment to craft, collaboration and the people who make the work. We’re proud to build this in Wales, contributing to a creative community where people can maintain their skills, form working relationships and develop ambitious work with the potential to reach audiences here and further afield.
THE SPIRIT BEHIND HWYL
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Keep developing your craft. Stay connected. Launching January 2027.
Completing your training is the beginning of a creative career. Continuing to practise, explore and connect with others is part of sustaining it. Hwyl Development is our performer development programme for graduates across Wales, with regular sessions in Cardiff and Swansea.
The programme brings together training across disciplines such as acting, singing, dance, spoken voice and movement, giving performers opportunities to revisit techniques, explore different approaches and keep their skills active. Community sits at its heart. Alongside the work in the room, Hwyl Development is about finding people to exchange ideas with, building connections and maintaining a sense of belonging beyond full-time training.
Full programme and booking information will be announced ahead of the January launch.
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Time to focus on your creative practice. Coming early 2027.
Hwyl Retreats offer dedicated time for acting, directing, scriptwriting and musical theatre writing. A retreat might mean concentrating on your performance practice, exploring a directing approach or giving a writing project the attention it needs. Each will have its own focus, bringing people together around a shared creative discipline.
The aim is to create the conditions for concentrated work, fresh thinking and meaningful creative exchange.
Retreat themes, locations, dates and booking details will be announced as the programme develops.
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New plays. New musicals. New stories for audiences.
Hwyl Originals brings together our original plays, musicals and other new performance work. Working with writers, composers and creative collaborators, we explore new stories and develop the theatrical language that brings them to life. Each project begins with its own questions, characters and possibilities, with development shaped around what the work needs.
First up: a new musical collaboration with Stuart Brayson in spring 2027.
Further details about the project and its development will be shared as the collaboration progresses.
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Existing stories, imagined for performance.
Hwyl Adaptations explores how existing writing and stories can become plays, musicals and other performance work. Adaptation begins with a conversation between the source material and the possibilities of live performance. We approach each project with care for its source and curiosity about what it could become on stage.
Our first collaboration is with the Dylan Thomas Centre in May 2027.
More about the project will be announced as the work develops.
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Your brief. A work created for your audience. Opening for commissions in 2027.
Hwyl Commissions is our bespoke offer for venues, organisations and creative partners. You may have a story you want to tell, a particular audience you want to reach or an idea for a new piece of theatre. We work with you to explore the brief and develop an appropriate creative response.
That could take the form of an original play, a musical or another performance project, shaped around its purpose, setting and audience.
We welcome early conversations about commissions for 2027 and beyond.
BE PART OF WHAT COMES NEXT
We’ll share programme announcements, project developments and opportunities to get involved as Hwyl Studio grows.
