Sinister panto about the formation of the NHS: Nye, at the Olivier Theatre, reviewed

00:00 03:38

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A Judy Garland rendition, dancing nurses, a star lead: no spectacle is spared in Tim Price’s new play Nye, which tells the story of Aneurin (Nye) Bevan, the architect of the National Health Service. The drama opens with Bevan being cared for on an NHS ward, slipping in and out of consciousness, on the brink of death. For the nearly three hours that follow, his sickness and his morphine drip plunge him into his ‘deepest memories’, portrayed as a ‘Welsh fantasia’ that tells the story of his life and his creation.

Welsh heavyweight Michael Sheen takes on one of the most notable Welsh politicians in modern British history. He captures Bevan at every stage of life: the schoolboy who is abused by his headmaster and struggles with a stutter; the socialist activist; the coal miner; the Labour MP; and finally the health and housing minister under Clement Attlee who transforms the health service. The playfulness and slight nervousness Sheen brings to the role is convincing in Bevan’s earlier years. His wide-eyed wonder is particularly moving in a library sequence, when he works to overcome his stutter. The attributes start to feel strained in Bevan’s later life, standing up to Winston Churchill during the war and battling with the doctor’s union when launching the NHS – not helped by the wardrobe department insisting Sheen walks around barefoot and wears pyjamas throughout.

But Sheen, despite a commanding performance, is the second-biggest star in this National Theatre production. The main character is the system itself: the idea, the ‘dream of the NHS’ which is presented only as a positive development. Strange, then, that this ‘dream’ often comes across as a nightmare.