This new play from Welsh writer TIM PRICE has enjoyed a fantastic run at the National Theatre in London, but now it’s back home in South Wales, NYE feels even more relevant. This is without a shadow of doubt the best, and without being overly dramatic, one of the most powerfully important productions you’ll see, especially with in our current environment.
You can’t have failed to miss the posters and advertising for this mammoth production over the last six months, and rightly so, this is a big deal in theatre terms.
Starring acting royalty MICHAEL SHEEN, Nye tells the story of Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan, the creator of the NHS, a man Michael has admired since his young days as a budding actor.
Let’s start with reaction to last nights performance at the Wales Millenniums Centre. As well as an emotionally charged crowd we also spoke to the WMC Creative Director GRAEME FARROW and Dr Who Screenwriter and TV Producer RUSSELL T DAVIES.
The play takes us on a journey that many around here will be familiar with. Nye had a very difficult time at school, followed by a working life in the coal mine from the age of thirteen. Then of course there’s unemployment, family tragedy and the subsequent struggles to makes end meet. All of which Nye endured as a young man.
To complete the timeline, he became Minister for Health and Housing in 1945 under Clement Attlee, where he watched over the creation of the National Health Service, which in itself brought some spirited political battles. Nye believed that comprehensive medical care had to be free at the point of need.
By 1951 he was appointed Minister of Labour but gave that up after a couple of months, angry at the introduction of charges for prescriptions, dentistry and eye care.
So with that background and a long life story to tell you’d expect Nye to be filled with political debate and battles, which it is. It’s also equally passionate, joyous, incredibly funny in parts too and I have to say, pretty damn exciting. This doesn’t happen very often, but I left the Donald Gordon Theatre theatre with an incredible sense of pride, for Wales, for Nye and for our NHS, as troubled as it is right now.
This may be the story of Nye Bevan, portrayed by one of our finest acting talents, but it is an incredible company who bring the show together. The entire cast, many of whom take on multiple roles, are at the top of their game. This is a story with a lot of words and more choreography than you usually see in a drama. It really does take a special team to pull it off.
It’s not a musical, but there is a brilliant song and dance routine in it. It also feels animated with stage choreography, the likes of which I haven’t seen presented so well for a long time. In fact, it made me think of both Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and that old TV series The Singing Detective. The latter for the musical number and Potter the choreography.
The play starts towards the end of Nye’s life with Michael Sheen spending the entire two and a half hours in pyjamas. He has just come round from a stomach ulcer operation and is clearly very ‘trippy‘ from the morphine. It’s in this induced state that he takes us on a journey through his past, touching on key moments in his life.
We meet the bully of a Headmaster who only served to make Nye’s stammer worse. We also see his father die from ‘black lung‘, something many here would have encountered first hand. I won’t go into graphic detail about the illness but the portrayal of his Father’s final moments is particularly distressing. It is beautifully and thoughtfully played out with the most heart-wrenching realism from RHODRI MEILIR.
Nye’s relationship with his wife Jennie (SHARON SMALL) and best friend Archie (ROGER EVANS) is powerful and passionate, on both counts. It also reveals a few things you may not have known about the charismatic Nye.
The set is vast and ever changing. The way the beds transform into doors, the hospital into the House of Commons and the Westminster bar is inspired. The use of projection adds to the spectacle we see unfold on this huge stage and the way laser lighting is used to depict the coal face is completely mesmerising.
We watched Michael Sheen make a presentation at this years Olivier Award last month, I have a feeling we’ll be cheering on the entire NYE team at the Royal Albert Hall for this truly awesome production next year.
This is a show which I would urge you to see, if you can get a ticket. Whether you love theatre or not, you will be drawn into the emotion and passion of a real Welsh story told with heart and humour.
As Graeme Farrow said, at some time or other in our lives we all will have contact with the NHS. Knowing how it began and how crucial Nye, Tredegar and all of South Wales was in its implementation is something we all should understand.
This is a play for everyone in the UK but for us in Wales it has extra meaning and relevance. A little word of warning though, take a box of tissues as you will cry – pretty much the entire theatre did last night. It also is a little sweary in parts, completely appropriate and relevant but you may want to consider taking younger children with that in mind.
NYE is at Wales Millennium Centre through to Saturday 1st June. The WMC run comes off the back of a long stint at the National Theatre in London.
Tickets for Nye start at just £19. For more details, and to book yours, go HERE.
You can take a look at our original feature HERE.
