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.

Just finished watching this production, starring Andrew Scott as Garry Essendine, and including in the cast Indira Varma (who, like Scott, won an Olivier award for this role) and Sophie Thompson (also Olivier nominated, but lost to Varma).

This is an old play, written by Noel Coward in the 1930s, centred around a successful actor and his immediate circle of associates. This 2019 version updated it in places, including gender swapping a key character, making it more true to the unspoken feeling but unshowable then truth of the original 1940s production. I think the ending has been tweaked too.

The acting is sparkling, very theatrical and over the top, but works so very well, and keeps you glued for almost 90 minutes. The staging is good too, set in a single room, with clever use of furniture, doors and other props. Often when the front door bell would ring, leading to another disastrous arrival, the audience would laugh out loud. Indeed there was just so much laughter from the audience throughout the whole play.

In the lead role Andrew Scott was superb. Yes over the top and camp for much of the time, but with a sad pathos running underneath, and superb comic timing. The rest of the cast were excellent, especially Varma and Thompson.

Highly recommended viewing. I watched the recorded performance via my National Theatre at Home streaming subscription, which I bought at a greatly reduced cost (thankfully!) just before Christmas.

Thought I'd do a quick recap on the main things I've been/am watching recently. These are in addition to things we record on the Sky Q box and watch together. Watching anything at all is tricky for me given how heavily asleep I am for most of the time, including often at night between dinner and supper, assuming I can resurface for supper. But here are some of the main things I'm squeezing in.

• Finishing Wednesday season 1, ready for watching season 2 later this year. I binge watched the last few episodes, which is extremely unusual for me.
• Rewatching Daredevil from the very start, ready (though I may be lagging a bit behind!) for what looks like pretty much a continuation coming later this year on Disney+.
• Watching plays on National Theatre at Home. So far I've got through London Tide (a version of Our Mutual Friend), Prima Facie (the Jodie Comer version), and am now onto Noel Coward's Present Laughter starring Andrew Scott. I have *so* many more on my watch list to hopefully get through with my year's subscription. It takes me a lot of watches to get through a single play.
• Watching recorded talk videos from Treadwells occult bookshop in London. So far I've learned about subjects such as Greek folk tales about goblins at Christmas, and an overview of the history of grimoires. Lots more lined up to watch soon.
• Enjoying some of my favourite YouTube channels, such as writer Christy Anne Jones and a Swiss family of Norwegian Forest cats.

Finished watching theatre performances "London Tide" and "Prima Facie" using my National Theatre at Home subscription.

The former was a valiant attempt to adapt Charles Dickens's "Our Mutual Friend" into under three hours, but for me it was unsuccessful, stripping out too much of the plot, characters and themes, and changing the ending a lot. Some of the performances were excellent, especially Bella Maclean as Bella Wilfer, Tom Mothersdale as John Rokesmith, and a quite superb young Ellie-May Sheridan as Jenny Wren. But the songs by PJ Harvey and Ben Power were an overlong distraction, generally terribly dirge like, and I'd happily have done without them.

Prime Facie sees an ambitious defence lawyer finds herself on the other side of the court, as a rape victim. It's a one woman play, with Jodie Comer playing the lawyer, and also retelling and acting out the other characters. It is an utterly devastating performance, which is horrific to watch, and I marvel that she managed to play this night after night, without even a full interval in the middle. Unsurprisingly Jodie Comer won both the Olivier and Tony awards for best actress in this role. A quite astonishing 100 minutes of acting.

Just signed myself up for a reduced year of National Theatre at Home subscription (I will need to cancel before the end to stop it auto renewing). I'd been considering asking for it for a Christmas present. But just spotted they have a 20% discount on the annual rate running to this Sunday only. So snapped it up. There are quite a few of their plays that I'm keen to watch online. I'm also hoping they'll in due course get Ncuti Gatwa's current one online too. Anyway yes, 20% discount (with a code on the site) until Sunday only. https://www.ntathome.com

Watching another Glasgow Worldcon panel, "All the Shakespeare: the Bard's Influence on SFF". Terry Pratchett has been mentioned multiple times, including his takes on Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and gender swapping. Which was nice to hear. Both the Canadian chair and the British person on the panel mentioned him during the discussion.

That's also reminded me that I should resume my Pratchett part read. I'm rereading all his Witches books in chronological sequence. Next up is the first Tiffany Aching book.

Although I struggle hugely with print now I can still generally read plays in that format. And rarely read them in ebook. But I did this time, to reread Macbeth, which I probably last read 35 or so years ago in school. I've also more recently seen other televised or movie versions. So do remember much of the plot.

Reading a play script book is often rather strange. This time I decided to ignore the lengthy analytical introduction, which to be honest was better read after I'd finished. And dived straight in. Much of the play has a very minimal cast, but there's backstory and wider things early on that can get confusing. The scenes focusing on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are best. And why does Banquo talk in such a flowery long-winded way?!

Reading an ebook version of a play text had the advantage that it allowed lots of useful jumping about easily to footnotes. And this Penguin edition was well footnoted. Usually to explain specific words rather than lengthy academic history paper type digressions! For example I was thrown by the word "sewer", thinking it literally meant that place. But no, it was a servant. Thank goodness for footnotes.

I am amazed just how many key quotes there are in this particular Shakespeare play. Many of which I remembered from long ago, but others surprised me by popping up here. It's remarkably packed full of stuff.

And action packed. Oh yes, action packed. Staging it must also involve a lot of fake blood ...

As a Scottish historian it's also fascinating to see this depiction of Scottish history, through a 17th century English lens, with the complex situation of James VI and I not long on the throne in London.

I plan to watch the Ian McKellen and Judi Dench 1970s stage version soon. Meanwhile yes, that was a good read.

There's a stage version of Charles Dickens's "Our Mutual Friend" on in London: "London Tide" with songs by PJ Harvey. Unsure how well it will work without seeing staging and hearing singing, but it's my favourite Dickens, so I'm getting the script to read.

I am also crossing fingers that the National Theatre may put a recording of this on their online pay service. I'd love to see it. But getting to see the stage show in person is impossible for me. It's getting varied reviews, but I'd still give it a go if I could.

Tonight's reading. I may not be able to get to Stratford-upon-Avon to see the current RSC theatre production of The Box of Delights. But I can read the play script book!