The National Theatre Debate in Wales, 1880-2002 introduces and investigates the drive to create a national theatre as an inherent aspect of the cultural, social and political life of modern Wales. Within the challenging background of a new European community, the study asks the question, `What is a national theatre?` and more importantly perhaps, `What is its relevance to modern Wales?` Efforts to establish a Welsh National Theatre are discussed in terms of the wider struggle to define a national identity in an ever more volatile world. The history of a Welsh national theatre is analysed and investigated but the main focus is on ascertaining how, in twenty first century Wales, a national theatre participates in the creation of the modern European Welsh man or woman.