2,740 posts
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Post by n1david on Apr 24, 2024 9:58:19 GMT
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Post by mrmarmelstein on Apr 24, 2024 15:45:32 GMT
Having seen this at both the theatre and on screen, this is one of an unusual group of plays which I think comes across better on screen than in person. Very well produced for the screen and a delight to have a genuine live broadcast again. Fingers crossed for more to come. This is really interesting, I loved the screening last night and was surprised to visit this thread and see the mixed response to it in person. I can see how some of the more intimate moments may have been lost in the Olivier. Agreed that it was lovely having a proper live screening again, and there was a very nice interval film looking back at the 15(!) years of NT Live. |
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1,470 posts
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Post by mkb on Apr 24, 2024 16:50:30 GMT
I'm a little jealous of those who got to see Michael Sheen. Having watched the short clip of him on the cinema trailer, I can see how his take on Bevan might have made me more appreciative of the play. He's so charismatic.
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Post by alessia on Apr 27, 2024 15:22:38 GMT
My friend and I saw this on Thursday and got the understudy as Sheen was sick. Lee Mengo is fine but neither of us liked the play. I suppose if we'd seen Sheen he might have brought something more to it, but as it was, we both felt that the text was quite mediocre and unsubtle.
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1,217 posts
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Post by nash16 on Apr 27, 2024 15:48:55 GMT
Feel I've completed NYE bingo as caught both Michael and Lee in the title role, but to allay fears, the play was still mediocre. You can't escape that writing, especially the repetition throughout.
The only advantage of seeing Sheen was getting that Sheen-sheen, but Lee was just as good, and looked slightly less uncomfortable singing the Get Happy number (poor Michael).
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1,970 posts
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Post by sf on May 1, 2024 0:12:58 GMT
Saw it tonight.
Direction and design much better than the very uneven script - but the second act is better than the first and the final line is a real heartbreaker. Michael Sheen is giving a wonderful star turn, the rest of the cast are great, it's a very entertaining evening, and Tim Price's script needed to go through a couple more drafts.
I rather liked the 6.30pm start, it was nice to get home a bit earlier on a weeknight.
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Post by greenandbrownandblue on May 5, 2024 8:02:02 GMT
Given many of the lukewarm responses on here, I went with relatively low expectations when I saw this last night.
And, to my surprise, I really rather liked this. Michael Sheen is terrific - a real star turn, who lifts this play to another level. I thought the concept of Nye reliving his life as a dream worked really well. The school scene was particularly brilliant. However, the actual creation of the NHS is surprisingly rushed in the second act. And I would've liked more of Jennie Lee.
Some clever bits of staging, such as the transition into the Commons. Wasn't quite sure what to make of the laser-style coal mine...
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Post by fluxcapacitor on May 21, 2024 9:50:00 GMT
Saw this last night in Cardiff. It’s… fine? A clear case of average writing and direction being bolstered by a brilliant central performance by Sheen.
For me, the play itself felt like it spoon fed everything. There was no nuance or subtext - it was all said out loud. Even when Nye is dying, he talks us through the whole experience when it really would have been more effective played out in silence until just the final line.
The staging and design also isn’t sure what it wants to be, and whilst I did really like the hospital curtain motif it’s not used to its full potential. Maybe it was different at the Olivier, but the projections - especially - feel cheap and half baked (such as the same shot of the doctors repeated on three levels instead of filming alternate versions, or the breathing lungs not syncing with the breathing audio) The (hard working) ensemble’s role is also inconsistent with the “carrying around” of Nye during some scenes such as the library feeling really out of place.
It’s effective enough, though, and certainly feels relevant in our current political climate.
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Post by ryhare on Jun 2, 2024 11:36:44 GMT
Caught this on its final performance in Cardiff. Hadn’t read the board or reviews before hand and glad I hadn’t as I’d maybe have swerved it and in a way I wish I had.
I really struggled to connect with the play and found the characters a caricature rather than fleshed out people. I think the acting choices of some of the cast bordered on hammy - Churchill doing a little dance and the deputy prime minister being a panto villain were more cringe inducing than laugh inducing.
Michael Sheen is what you’d expect, certainly a good performance but a character so 2D that it garnered no emotional response and made lines, including the last line of the play, fall flat and I kind of felt embarrassed by it.
There were many people leaving the theatre crying and emotional so I was certainly one of the more cynical audience members but to be honest, the NHS is so beloved that I think Michael Sheen could have just walked on stage and shouted ‘I love the NHS’ that it would have got the same applause and ovation and saved me 3 hrs.
Design was muddled, very claustrophobic but I loved the parliament set.
The song and dance number lost me. The surreal aspect is never really fully established that just leaves you questioning ‘is this just national theatre being National theatre or does it serve a purpose?’ Similar thoughts around the choreographed movement and the teacher with the long canes. It’s not until the line at the end where it’s established as dreams rather than flashbacks does it sort of make sense.
This is a small point but I spent the first 20 minutes thinking the actress playing the wife was doing a bad Welsh accent and I wasn’t alone in thinking that. As the Celtic accents are similar, and true Welsh accents, not cliched are hard. Also as you’d assume his wife would be Welsh (without any prior knowledge) a brief line to establish this earlier would have saved confusion.
Would probably settle on 2 stars. Would this have any life, or be remotely interesting to audiences without the star power of Michael Sheen
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374 posts
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Post by theatrenerd on Sept 24, 2024 10:19:26 GMT
Returning to both the Olivier and Wales Millennium Centre next year
Also streaming for free on YouTube on 7 November
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1,217 posts
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Post by nash16 on Sept 24, 2024 14:02:36 GMT
THIS is returning?? Yikes.
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Post by aspieandy on Sept 24, 2024 15:38:02 GMT
Does seem somewhat inexplicable .. I just wonder if this decision is somewhat linked to a change in suits cross the river. Perhaps a change in mood about the future of the service .. it's coming home, it's coming home, 14-years of hurt, etc.
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5,138 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Sept 24, 2024 21:28:28 GMT
It sold very well, and has a good name in it, and was commercially one of Norris' biggest successes - no surprise to me this is back.
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1,254 posts
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Post by theatrelover123 on Sept 24, 2024 21:37:00 GMT
It sold very well, and has a good name in it, and was commercially one of Norris' biggest successes - no surprise to me this is back. A commercial success that papered and had reduced tickets for a substantial part of its run? |
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5,138 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Sept 24, 2024 22:26:22 GMT
It sold very well, and has a good name in it, and was commercially one of Norris' biggest successes - no surprise to me this is back. A commercial success that papered and had reduced tickets for a substantial part of its run? I'm reasonably savvy at papering and discounts, and I had to buy tickets for Nye (and a good chunk of it was sold out) so if that's the case, it somehow passed me which is rare |
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