Nye: a 'rousing' drama about NHS founder Aneurin Bevan
A 'cradle to grave' story starring Michael Sheen that is rich in 'poignant insights'
Michael Sheen is "in his element" as the architect of the NHS, Aneurin Bevan, in Tim Price's "rousing" new play "Nye", said Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph.
Sheen is "by turns down to earth and messianic, tender and full of clenched tenacity". And there is "no faulting the rest of the company either", Cavendish added.
Younger audience members "may know next to nothing about" Bevan, known as Nye, "the honourable member for Ebbw Vale, the left-wing orator who oversaw the creation of the National Health Service", said Clive Davis in The Times.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This production will "hopefully change that", said Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett in The Guardian. In 1948, when the NHS was founded, "almost everyone in Britain knew his name", and his death in 1960 "led to an outpouring of national mourning".
Like the former Labour MP and health minister, Sheen is "something of a Welsh folk hero, and his embodiment of the role astonishing", said Cosslett. Yes, the play "verges towards the sentimental at times", but it gets away with its slightly saccharine note "because it's also inventive, surreal and at times very funny".
There's some "skating over historical detail" as we follow him "from cradle to grave in a morphine-induced fever-dream amid Bevan's hospitalisation with terminal stomach cancer in 1960", said Cavendish. At one point, he sings a rendition of "Get Happy" in his pyjamas, with medical staff dancing around him.
Having an "ageing famous figure reliving his life in convenient vignettes" like this is a little "tired" as a format, said Alice Saville in The Independent, but director Rufus Norris "keeps things nimble and strange".
There are "poignant biographical insights". Initially, Sheen is "touchingly delighted to be treated by the public health system he helped dream into existence", but is soon "lost in post-operative hallucinations: the sadistic schoolteacher who beat him for his stammer, the black lung-afflicted miner father who – ironically – he couldn't or wouldn't help".
We also learn how Bevan's wife, Labour MP Jennie Lee, "sidelined her own ambitions to support her husband's career", said Cosslett in The Guardian. With the NHS currently crumbling, "the timeliness of the play, and some of its lines about Tory interests and ideology, were not lost on the audience".
National Theatre, London SE1 (020-3989 5455) until 11 May. Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, 18 May to 1 June. Screened live in cinemas via NT Live on 23 April.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Adrienne Wyper has been a freelance sub-editor and writer for The Week's website and magazine since 2015. As a travel and lifestyle journalist, she has also written and edited for other titles including BBC Countryfile, British Travel Journal, Coast, Country Living, Country Walking, Good Housekeeping, The Independent, The Lady and Woman’s Own.
-
These 7 touring theater productions are ready to carry you through the holidays and into the new year
The Week Recommends Your favorite movie-turned-musical might be coming to a city near you
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Kimpton Everly Hotel: the perfect base to explore Hollywood
The Week Recommends Escape the bustle of LA at this laidback bolthole
By Caroline Dolby Published
-
The best TV spy thrillers
The Week Recommends Brilliant espionage series, packed with plot twists to keep you hooked until the end
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Magnificent Tudor castles and stately homes to visit this year
The Week Recommends The return of 'Wolf Hall' has sparked an uptick in visits to Britain's Tudor palaces
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Vegetable cocktails are having a moment
The Week Recommends Wild carrot margarita? Mung bean old-fashioned? 'Allotment-inspired' tipples are appearing on drinks menus
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Renegade comedian Youngmi Mayer's frank new memoir is a blitzkrieg to the genre
The Week Recommends 'I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying' details a biracial life on the margins, with humor as salving grace
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Drawing the Italian Renaissance: a 'relentlessly impressive' exhibition
The Week Recommends Show at the King's Gallery features an 'enormous cache' of works by the likes of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael
By The Week UK Published
-
Niall Williams shares his favourite books
The Week Recommends The Irish novelist chooses works by Charles Dickens, Seamus Heaney and Wendell Berry
By The Week UK Published