vivdunstan

Bumped this up my viewing list, because the play is going off streaming through National Theatre at Home at the end of this month. It can be viewed before then by people like me who subscribe to the service (I was lucky to nab a reduced price offer before Christmas), or on a short-term rental view.

The play was staged in early 2024 and is a dramatisation of the life of Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan, who spearheaded the launch of the National Health Service in the UK in 1948. The play tells Bevan's life, looking back from his final days in hospital, as sedated he dreams back to his youth as a miner's son in Wales, early political life, his courtship of his wife, Westminster politics of WW2, and then the fight to found the NHS.

The staging is creative, being set largely in a hospital ward, but repurposing the props - including beds - as well as patients and staff to take on the various roles of people Nye encountered in his life. This staging took a little getting used to, and the play runs briskly along. But it certainly grabs the viewer's attention.

The central performance of Michael Sheen as Nye Bevan is riveting, and ably matched by Sharon Small as his Scottish wife and fellow Labour politician Jenny Lee. Their relationship feels vital to the play as a whole, but is surprisingly underdeveloped after their first striking meeting.

The foundation of the NHS happens near the end of the play, and feels surprisingly rushed, and a story only partly told. There is very effective staging of a group of doctors seen above, debating whether to join the new NHS. The toing and froing here between Bevan and the doctors is gripping. But then it's over, the NHS is founded, and the play finishes soon after.

An admirable theatre experience, though I think the play script could have balanced some aspects of the story better. However the performances are gripping, and the staging held my attention throughout. Recommended.

I started watching this film while Martin was away, and only finished it the other night.

I enjoyed it, but it felt like too little story over stretched. It tells the life of young Tolkien, from young boy, through school and university, experiences in the Great War, and a little after. It just felt too much like a series of vignettes, with things often under-explored that could have merited further depth.

A particular strength was in the portrayal of Tolkien's closest group of school friends, and their TCBS or "Tea Club and Barrovian Society". This carries through to their war experiences, and was very moving in places. I was also impressed by the actors playing the younger versions, including a young Ty Tennant.

The romance between Tolkien and Edith is well acted by both - I was especially impressed by Lily Collins - but again it felt sketched in too faintly. And then set aside for a long period.

The guest cast is strong. I was particularly delighted to see Derek Jacobi pop up as a key university lecturer in Tolkien's story. Though again he was underused, and this story not explored sufficiently for me.

A lot of the emotional heft was in the war and its consequences, but I found the war scenes overlong, especially the frequent more artistically slow motion versions, which were clearly trying to draw analogies with later characters and scenes in Tolkien's own books. I suppose I just wasn't engaging in the way the film makers hoped the audience would. But these scenes for me padded what was already a too underdeveloped story.

This sounds really critical reading it back! I did like a lot. But it was I suppose ultimately disappointing for me. Too little, stretched too far. I can't comment on the historical accuracy, and gather from prior reading that the film takes a lot of liberties. That doesn't trouble me so much as poor writing, pacing and in places directing, that even a strong cast couldn't lift.

Rating 2.5/5. I don't usually go for half scores, but 2/5 would be too low for me, and 3/5 too high!

A new month, time for another infographic showing the books I am mainly reading. A mix of fiction and non fiction, biography, computing and poetry.

I still have a few books on the go to finish off, but here are two more that I've just loaded onto my Kindle. Harry Harrison's sci-fi tale of Hollywood film makers filming real Vikings in the 11th century Orkney Islands. And Michael Troughton's biography of his dad. Which I have had in print for years, bought direct from Michael, but haven't been able to read much before. Now I have it on my Kindle, so should make better progress.