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Next Tuesday, 4 October, sees this year's annual Richard Burton lecture at the Princess Royal Theatre in Port Talbot, near where the Hollywood screen legend grew up.

The lecture is being taken by John McGrath, artistic director of , who was key in bringing this year's much-lauded production of The Passion, starring Michael Sheen, to the town.

The annual Richard Burton Lecture was inspired by the launch in 2010 of the Richard Burton Archives, the new home of Swansea University's archive collection.

John McGrath. Image courtesy of National theatre Wales

A year on from the National Theatre's launch, Mr McGrath will talk about its journey 'from Blackwood to Brecon to Port Talbot's Passion'.

National Theatre Wales was established in 2008 with a pledge to "create theatre in the English language, rooted in Wales, with an international reach". In its first year it has largely wowed the critics with performances staged in a range of locations.

The company managed to gain unprecedented access to military ranges on the Brecon Beacons to stage The Persians and then took over an ordinary house in Gwynedd's Nantlle Valley for The Weather Factory, a series of installations representing different weather systems.

Image from The Persians © Toby Farrow/National Theatre Wales

Mr McGrath said it has been an "incredible" year for the company, which has no specific base, but has been staging events in a variety of venues throughout Wales. He said it was "an honour" to be asked to take the lecture in memory of "one of Wales' greatest actors".

The theatre's decision to produce the 72-hour performance of The Passion, inspired by the biblical passion play, around the town on Easter weekend was a hit with local businesses, who saw a boost in trade.

Mr McGrath said: "We couldn't have had a better finale to our first year than The Passion. It was great because it moved beyond the realms of theatre into being a part of life and reaching audiences theatre doesn't normally reach.

"It was a wonderful achievement for Port Talbot as well, the whole town really embraced it. The whole year has really exceeded our best dreams of what it might be."

Michael Sheen and members of the cast of The Passion. Photo © Richard Hardcastle

In his lecture, Mr McGrath will take the audience through the theatre company's year, seeing performances through the eyes of the actors who took part, like Michael Sheen, Nia Roberts, who starred in Love Steals Us From Loneliness, Boyd Clack and Sharon Morgan, who both starred in the theatre's début, A Good Night Out In The Valleys, which was staged at the miners' institute in Blackwood.

Mr McGrath said that journey would show the audience just what effect the company's different kinds of theatre have had, from larger-scale productions and musicals to smaller, more experimental pieces and how much it has tried to engage with the community.

"Actors are at the heart of everything we do and the most exciting thing to come out of the theatre this year has been that degree of enthusiasm we have felt from both them and the audiences.

"Audiences were our starting point and our work has been very rooted in the community and will continue to be so. Audience members have often had a part to play within the shows themselves.

"Our aim has always been to give them a slightly different experience, whether it's taking the bus to a firing range in Brecon for The Persians or walking round a house in Caernarfon, people have always embraced the experience."

The company is looking forward to another action-packed schedule in its second year.

Next month sees it begin a tour of 16 village halls with new production The Village Social, the theatre's first musical.

Creators of The Village Social Ben Lewis and Dafydd James. Photo © Warren Orchard/National Theatre Wales

Another highlight will be a production of Coriolanus in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company, which is planned for August 2012, at Dragon Studios near Bridgend.

The production will use the same team as The Persians and will see the performance staged "in the era of 24-hour news, of celebrity culture, and of a new global politics," with members of the audience tasked with playing extras.

March/April 2012 will see The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning, a play centred on the plight of the 23-year-old US soldier, who was educated in Pembrokeshire and is currently in prison accused of revealing US government secrets via Wikileaks.

Mr McGrath said: "This is an urgent story which has resonance in Wales. It's good for the company to involve ourselves in something as current as this and explore his connections with the area."

Entrance to the Richard Burton lecture is free. It will take place at the Princess Royal Theatre in Port Talbot on Tuesday 4 October at 6pm.