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The New Year will bring the long-awaited re-opening of the newly refurbished Sherman Theatre, which has received £3.9m in lottery funding to modernise its backstage and public areas.

And today, the theatre's team announced a varied programme of plays, gigs and dance acts to propel the venue forward into a new era.

The old Sherman building closed its doors for the 18 month refurbishment in January 2010 and the eagerly-anticipated new season will kick off in February in a building designed by Jonathan Adams at Capita Architecture, who also designed the Wales Millennium Centre.

Sherman Cymru's redevelopment is almost complete. Photo: Marina Newth

The season officially starts with an Open House weekend on 4-5 February, with the first production taking place from 7-11 February.

This will be a Welsh language production of Bethan Marlow's Sgint, co-produced by Sherman Cymru and .

Set in Caernarfon, its focus is real people and how they are faring during the current tough economic climate.

Marlow has spent the past 18 months painstakingly interviewing a range of subjects about their experiences coping with tightened purse strings.

Promotional shot for Sgint. Image courtesy of Sherman Cymru

The production is being directed by Arwel Gruffydd, who says: "Sgint will be a theatrical event unseen until now in Welsh, where people's voices will be heard on stage in a way they've never been before; raw, honest, and from the heart.

"Although we'll be working with professional actors, this will be a mirror held up to real life that will be sometimes brutal, and difficult to view - there are some unpalatable home truths here.

"It will be quite a challenge for me and the actors to capture this authenticity, and be true to the wonderful people who will be portrayed, who have been so generous in the making of this play."

The production then tours Wales throughout February and March 2012.

Next on the agenda is Lovesong, a play by the BAFTA awardwinning Abi Morgan, which explores the concept of lifelong love, revisiting the past and present lives of a couple in the first flush of love and in the autumn of their lives. It is inspired by TS Eliot's poem The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, about a couple rediscovering the early glow of their relationship in old age.

Leanne Rowe (Margaret) and Edward Bennett (William) in Frantic Assembly's Lovesong. Photo: Johan Persson

Sam Cox (Billy) and Siân Phillips (Maggie) in Frantic Assembly's Lovesong. Photo: Johan Persson

The play sees Morgan, the brains behind the forthcoming The Iron Lady (starring Meryl Streep), The Hour and Sex Traffic, once more working with physical theatre company Frantic Assembly. Running from 15-18 February, it stars the Sherman's redevelopment campaign patron Siân Phillips.

From 23 February-3 March comes a dark comedy by playwright Tim Price, For Once, which premièred in Hampstead in London in July to a warm reception from critics and some 4* reviews.

Price, who is the co-founder of the theatre company, said: "For Once is my first play, it's about a family dealing with the after effects of a tragedy.

"It's set in a small market town on the Welsh borders and I'm super chuffed to have it staged at the Sherman."

The production is being presented by the pioneering company and explores a community's profound reaction to unexpected misfortune.

The Sherman dates mark the start of a tour which will see it play at venues including the Newbury Corn Exchange, Warwick Arts Centre and the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, before ending with a run at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.

Image taken from For Once. Photo: Robert Day

The work of Wales' former national poet Gwyneth Lewis will take centre stage when her new play Clytemnestra opens in April.

It reconfigures the epic Greek legend about the femme fatale who was thought to have murdered her husband in revenge for sacrificing their daughter and imbues it with a new sense of drama through Lewis' traditional storytelling methods in a production directed by Amy Hodge.

Other highlights include White by the award-winning children's theatre company Catherine Wheels, Political Mother: The Choreographer's Cut by the internationally acclaimed choreographer Hofesh Shechter, as well as appearances from Cerys Matthews, National Theatre Wales, Belarus Free Theatre, Grid Iron and Matthew Bourne.

Cerys Matthews. Photo: Rhys Frampton

Ticket booking is now open for priority bookers, with general ticket booking opening on 28 November.

Sherman Cymru Director Chris Ricketts said: "The programme is a real setting out of the Sherman Cymru stall.

"It features a great mix of Welsh, UK and international companies and artists, and includes work we will be producing in-house, some fantastic writing that will be seen for the first time and work generated by our Creative Learning team.

"We think it's a really strong opening season and hope it will allow people to delve into Sherman Cymru for the first time or to rediscover it anew. We're very much looking forward to welcoming audiences back into our new home."

Tickets and full information about the reopening season are available from Sherman Cymru's Ticket Office on 029 2064 6900 or online at .