Tag Archives: Michael Sheen

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“Nye” at the National Theatre

If you can make a claim for any politician being a hero, it’s Aneurin Bevan, founder of the NHS and the subject of Tim Price’s new play. But there are pitfalls in dramatising this remarkable life. Despite stellar performances and efforts to inject energy into the show, we all know the story and there’s very little to say.

Price does well. We get the story from Bevan’s death bed, so we are ready to shed a tear from the start. There’s a lot of personal history covered, as well as big events to make it feel insightful. A lifelong friend and a formidable wife are brought to the fore, making great roles for Roger Evans and Sharon Small. Oh, and there’s a strong Winston Churchill cameo from Tony Jayawardena. Taking the title role, Michael Sheen plays all ages of the great man’s life while maintaining the show’s conceit – that what we’re watching comes from a morphine-induced stupor. Barely leaving the stage for two and half hours, Sheen delivers a brilliant performance. 

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Sharon Small

Director Rufus Norris keeps the action rolling with a big bag of tricks. There are lovely moments of movement, with characters lifted and carried around the stage, credited to co-choreographers Steven Hoggett and Jess Williams. A scene in a library from Bevan’s childhood is just gorgeous. Lighting design and projections (Paule Constable and Jon Driscoll) make the most of Vicki Mortimer’s set of giant hospital screens. Clement Atlee’s remote-control desk deserves a mention. And there’s even a song and dance number at one point. You can’t say there’s a lack of ideas. Yet each scene is just a little too long, each idea just a touch laboured. Not only does the show end up feeling like a long night, but all the effort feels clinical.

The biggest problem is that the examination is cursory when it comes to setting up the NHS. Struggles in Parliament and with the British Medical Association, which could make a whole play, are brief. There are goosebumps, but they are down to Sheen, who brings a conviction to the role that is inspiring. Bevan’s outsider status is clear – but it is seen as an advantage as much as a handicap. His growth into power, from activist to politician, is not something to be ashamed of. You can agree with it all, but also note a lack of dramatic tension. There just isn’t much debate in Nye, even if the oratory itself is excellent.

Until 11 May 2024

www.nationaltheatre.co.uk

Photos by Johan Persson

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“Under Milk Wood” at the National Theatre

Poetry on stage is never easy. And when Dylan Thomas’s text comes with the legacy of a famous reading (Richard Burton, no less) a new production becomes even trickier. Lyndsey Turner’s brave attempt benefits from a star draw and strong performances from a large cast, but struggles to deliver anything new or to please old fans.

The big idea is to start the play within a care home. Additional material is provided by Siân Owen. Our narrator (Michael Sheen) jogs the memory of his dementia-suffering father (Karl Johnson). Thomas’s themes of memory and mortality are clear. But this preface (how could it be considered anything else?) makes the show longer than needed. And an hour and three quarters without an interval and wearing a mask feels very long indeed.

Maybe you have the patience. But while the show feels lengthy, the delivery – undoubtedly impressive – is too often rushed. And this is not an easy text to follow. Turner, with the help of movement director Imogen Knight, has taken the challenge of bringing a ‘play for voices’ to the stage vigorously. The lives of those living in Milk Wood come and go with alarming speed.

It’s easy to enjoy the cast, who take on the roles of villagers as “one spring day” goes by. I’d single out Alan David as making me laugh the most, while Siân Phillips manages to convey different ages of characters quite magically. There are nice touches with minimal props and excellent costume changes (bravo, set and costume designer Merle Hensel). Emotional moments between father and son are highlighted by the issue of alcoholism, and the “always open” Sailors Arms pub is a vivid presence within the play.

Thomas was not nostalgic. You can imagine the temptation… all those simple lives in an easier past. There is charm and humour here but, admirably, Turner avoids rose tints. A call to observe the balance between seeing the best and worst sides of people has weight as a result.

Sheen can command a stage. And he sounds fantastic. But with a show this dark – literally – and often pin-drop-quiet, it’s all too easy to slip from the level of concentration he brings to the role. The “noise of the hush” is an exquisite phrase to describe the life of this community… the trouble is that I heard a snore above it more than once. This production is an achievement on the part of its cast. Unfortunately, it requires a feat of endurance for an audience.

Until 24 July 2021

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

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“Hamlet” at the Young Vic

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There have been lots of Hamlets: it seems that the character is infinite in variety as well as faculty, and it’s easy to imagine the pressure to come up with something different. Director Ian Rickson’s angle at the Young Vic Theatre is to stage the play in a lunatic asylum, an insane idea that not only adds nothing to the play, but actually severely detracts from it.

Of all the different productions of Hamlet one can think of, one constant remains intact – the equivocation concerning Hamlet’s sanity that is so central to the text. Not only is this dramatic, it goes to the heart of Shakespeare’s search for Hamlet’s humanity. Rickson simply abandons this question: his Hamlet is an inmate. Clearly schizophrenic (he adopts the persona of his father), he is reduced from an everyman to a madman

Straitjacketing the text into the concept produces inconsistencies too numerous to mention, from the trivial (it’s an odd asylum that lets its inmates play with swords) to the essential – if Hamlet is merely delusional, why is a supernatural presence suggested anyway? If you can remain calm in the face of all this you might enjoy the production’s attempts to get around these problems, albeit problems of its own making. Jeremy Herbert’s design is impressive – it even includes a pre-show ‘tour’ where the audience walks backstage to acquaint itself with the institution. It’s big – but it isn’t clever. Indeed, by the end of the show it is quite literally dumb with Fortinbras reduced to hand signals to reveal Rickson’s final ‘twist’.

Some benefit from all this stupidity: Michael Gould is convincing as a more prominent than usual Polonius, and Vinette Robinson is moving as a Ophelia who seems at home in this madhouse. But the majority of characters suffer: the move from King to councillor is too much of a demotion for the role of Claudius, and James Clyde is wasted in the part, while Gertrude is reduced to a spaced-out victim – it isn’t clear if she is an inmate or not.

The greatest loss though is Michael Sheen in the title role. A talented actor, always magnetic on stage, it is clear from his powerful soliloquies what a great Hamlet he could have been. Trapped inside Ian Rickson’s concept, he is denied the chance. This is the real tragedy of the evening.

Until 21 January 2011

www.youngvic.org

Written 11 November 2011 for The London Magazine