madamegoethe - Tumblr blog

madamegoethe · 10 days ago

Text

MICHAEL SHEEN on returning to play NYE BEVAN – and echoing his spirit

As Michael Sheen is set to reprise the lead role in Nye at Wales Millennium Centre this month, he takes time out from rehearsals to talk to Antonia LeVay about Aneurin Bevan’s legacy, his Welsh National Theatre aims and the future of the arts in Wales.

Raw, passionate and inherently Welsh, Michael Sheen is my generation’s Richard Burton. An outspoken champion for maintaining and preserving Welsh culture and its future, who’s never shied away from his heritage and roots: chop his head off and Wales would be imprinted in his neck as in the proverbial stick of rock.

We’re here today with Nye – Tim Price’s play about Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan and the formation of the National Health Service, starring Sheen as Bevan and getting a late-August revival in Cardiff after a successful first run in 2024 – as our main pretext for talking. When we begin, though, Sheen talks candidly about the recent death of his father.

“It’s been raw, really raw. I stepped into rehearsals just days after his funeral – talk about timing. This play surfaces grief and renewal in a profound way; for anyone who’s lost a parent, or anyone close, it resonates fiercely. And that’s exactly what happened with me. There’s no hiding from it – the emotions are right there onstage.”

In intense circumstances, then, Sheen has now returned to Nye nearly a year after the original run. In the interim, there’ve been new layers to the production uncovered, from an actor’s perspective, and fresh challenges have emerged.

“You know, there’s a rare beauty in being able to revisit a performance after time away. In the original run, you’re locked into the moment: you commit, you perform, you tweak things live, but you never get the chance to press pause and fully interrogate. Now, having stepped away and returned, it’s like revisiting an old friend you know well, but who surprises you with hidden depths.

“We’ve made revisions, particularly to scenes between Archie [Bevan’s miner friend] and Jennie [Bevan’s wife]. Tim had time to step back, watch our run, think, and carefully rework dialogue and pacing. Other scenes I approached with fresh intention.

“There was one version where Bevan was a relentless storm – a ‘rutting stag’, to use Jennie’s words. In this run, I’ve consciously refrained from that forcefulness. I’ve leaned into something subtler, more wily, more human. Vulnerability is threaded through now, rather than hidden behind sheer drive.”

The Nye Bevan now at the heart of this play feels more textured, with layers of nuance. As Sheen sees it: “It’s his trajectory that’s captivating. A miner’s son in the Welsh Valleys, Bevan speaks of being ‘a projectile hurled out’ from that world, and yet he carves a path to become Minister for Health and Housing. That transformation is nothing short of astounding.

“There was no preset route for someone like him, no ticket out of those Valleys. He forged it with determination and tenacity. He smashed through barriers, time and again. In today’s climate, where public trust in politics is fractured and cynicism is the default, it’s vital to remember that not every politician is driven by ego or opportunism. Some aspire to serve, to enact structural transformation. That’s Bevan. And his story reminds us that democracy isn’t some inevitable engine: it’s built by conviction and collective will.”

That message feels especially urgent now. It feels pointed, too, that Nye was first performed a few months before Labour returned to power – and has returned to the stage roughly one year on, with polls painting an unremittingly grim picture for the party.

“The first run aligned neatly with the runup to a general election,” Sheen says; “timely highlighting of austerity, benefits cuts, threats to social cohesion. It felt like a direct critique of Conservative policies.

“But this time, the echoes are different: it lands as a challenge to Labour, a mirror held up to any party that drifts from its founding values. Bevan’s words now resonate beyond party lines, reminding us that these principles, public service, collective welfare, transcend transient politics.”

Ahead of this revival of Nye, one of Sheen’s highest-profile ventures of late has been Welsh National Theatre. Announced at the beginning of 2025, only weeks after the dissolution of National Theatre Wales – similarly named and with a comparable remit, but an unrelated entity – the actor is the company’s artistic director, and is funding its initial activity. He’ll also be among the cast in its debut production, Our Town, set to open next January at the Grand Theatre in Swansea, where Welsh National Theatre is based.

Being the driving force and being deeply involved in shaping a new platform for Welsh theatre, he talks about the heart of this vision – and how Nye fits in. “After Nye sold out at the Millennium Centre, I realised how hungry people are for large-scale Welsh stories. I heard that if wheelchair users weren’t filling seats, they’d pull chairs from the bar to meet demand. That risked clichés about small-audience expectations, it smashed them flat. The appetite is enormous.

“That experience inspired us to launch a theatre company with a mission to commission, develop and stage ambitious homegrown stories on grand stages – and then take them around Wales; Llandudno, Swansea, Mold, across schools, halls, communities.

“We’re not inundated with resources, but we’re rich in ambition and intent. Our inaugural season features one large-scale production at the Millennium Centre and a touring show reaching audiences who’d otherwise miss it, in Swansea Grand and Venue Cymru in Llandudno. These are regional cultural hubs that don’t often see Welsh-written, Welsh-storied plays at scale. We want to change that.”

As Sheen goes on to say, “This isn’t just about big productions. This is about cultivating sustainable careers for Welsh writers. Organisations like Theatr Clwyd, Sherman Theatre, Grand Ambition – they’re doing brilliant work supporting playwrights. But there’s a gap when it comes to scaling that work to major venues like the Wales Millennium Centre.

“That’s where our company fits – taking life’s work from the rehearsal room to the big stage, to bigger audiences. We want to commission writers early, offer developmental infrastructure and mentorship, collaborate across companies, share resources, and, crucially, present work at scale. It’s a missing piece, and it matters profoundly to the future of Welsh theatre.”

On the subject of a wider scale and culture shaping political conversations on autonomy and independence, Sheen speaks today in strong terms. “For too long, Welsh Labour has leaned on Westminster, and been constrained by the idea that full power risks poverty. That’s demoralising. I believe Wales should be in a position to choose independence if that’s our will, with strength and stability, not because we lack confidence.

“Culture is an expression of national self-belief. If our First Minister is telling us Wales can’t stand alone, that sentiment echoes in our art sectors: smaller funding, smaller ambition. But in truth, confidence begets confidence. Art builds it and storytelling cements it. We need narratives that remind us who we are, where we come from and where we could go.”

With all of this in mind, I’m keen to find out Sheen’s thoughts on future generations, and what’s needed on a domestic level. Looking down the decades, what would he like to see Wales become?

“I envision a Wales built on community; where local wealth, economic and cultural, is retained locally; where we share stories and identities across north, south, east and west Wales. A Wales with identity rooted in diversity, where marginal voices become central voices.

“I want to see community-born enterprise, where success isn’t exported but reinvested. Where public spaces, markets, libraries and theatres are hubs of connection, and where screens and stages explore our shared narratives and contested histories. A nation united not by geography but by interwoven lives, shared values and collective creative purpose.

“Twenty years from now, I hope Wales is confident, with a story told to itself and the world. A Wales not shaped by resignation or retreat, but by choice.”

There’s nostalgia in what Sheen is envisioning here, certainly, but also a picture of renewal. The notion of a community butcher and grocer – or even a local storyteller – as Nye Bevan himself saw is what the man portraying him also sees for Wales.

“It’s not about a pastiche of the 1950s grocery store, but about value: care, connection, dignity. Real communities need meaningful places, and those places speak to how we organise our future. It reminds me of Bevan’s line in the play: ‘Expectation will always exceed capacity. The service must always be changing.’ It’s values that endure, not structures. Our healthcare, arts and communities must evolve, but in ways rooted in values of solidarity and justice.”

When asked about Wales’ future politics, and how he sees that evolving alongside these cultural shifts, he’s typically forthright. “Politics and culture are inseparable – the south Wales coalfields gave birth to Labour’s identity. That tradition is now in flux. Without radical ideas from the left – not reframed centrist tweaks – people will look elsewhere. We need policy and narrative overhaul rooted in custodianship of communities, not profit. Economic sovereignty for towns, public ownership of generational uplift.

“Culture must fuel the conversation: Welsh novels, plays, films exploring class, identity, interdependence, resilience. That’s how we process complexity and imagine fairer futures.”

A vocal advocate for some time of empowering the next generation, Sheen’s hope for them is positive, though he feels the curriculum is lacking. “I remember learning Welsh history in my forties, because school didn’t teach it – that shouldn’t happen. The burden of self-education shouldn’t fall on people. We need systemic change in curriculum and media to teach young people who Bevan is, who Saunders Lewis is – and who modern Welsh thinkers are. My generation of artists, cultural leaders and institutions must make Welsh history and stories part of everyday consciousness.

“National conversation must become routine – which means a national theatre asking questions that other companies can then respond to. Sharing airtime, sharing resources, collaborating, even beyond financial incentives, because together we’re stronger. This isn’t optional. It’s existential. Collaboration doesn’t come from scarcity, it comes from shared purpose. Wales needs that spirit now more than ever.”

Still, while we dream big about possible futures, Sheen’s time with Buzz this morning is slipping away. Does he have any adaptations he’s keen to involve himself in, I ask before we wrap up? Maybe Ken Follett’s epic Century Trilogy of novels, published in the early 2010s and with their plots based in Mountain Ash?

He laughs. “Once you proclaim an interest in Welsh stories, the floodgates open. Mountains of ideas pour in – epic sagas, untold legends, modern heroes, folk histories. The challenge becomes curatorial: which stories align with the cultural and moral narrative we want to tell? There’s no shortage. It’s thrilling, and yes, also utterly overwhelming at moments. We’re connecting with something fundamental, taking stock of who we are and where we could be going. It feels important and urgent.

Michael Sheen’s insight and passion, as demonstrated right here, is more than admirable. Evidently, he alone cannot change the tide. What he can do is generate sizeable waves – more so with cultural partners and collaborators onboard, as in his Welsh National Theatre project. But real systemic change is needed, and without the support of politicians and lawmakers to preserve, sustain and grow the arts and culture sector in Wales to ensure it thrives, the problem remains unresolved. We need a revolution; could this be the start?

#Michael Sheen #Nye #National Theatre #interview #welsh national theatre #amazing interview #i was thinking about how extra emotional it must have been for him this time #can't wait to see the tweaks #politics #wales #cymru

32 notes · View notes