The noisy member for Ebbw Vale. The stuttering orator. The father of the National Health Service. Growing up as a Valleys girl I was always told that the NHS was created by a Welshman;, but I never truly knew the full story behind the man, Nye Bevan, whose vision for a better, fairer world, was the driving force behind creating the National Health Service. I first encountered Nye at the Wales Millennium Centre in its previous run in 2024. It’s safe to say that my visit to the revival version in 2025 still left me reeling with emotions; high with laughter one moment, face wet with tears the next.

In a time where the NHS is under much scrutiny; undervalued, understaffed, underfunded, Nye takes us back to its infancy, with the opening pages revealing Aneurin Bevan recovering from an operation in one of the very hospitals he built. The staging here is a thing of beauty, the set and ensemble create a budding National Health Service, the hustle and bustle of the ward’s essence captured perfectly. From there we enter Nye Bevan’s dream and his journey from a Miner’s son in Ebbw Vale, through school, endless tribunals and countless committees, to the Houses of Parliament and eventually to his role of Minister for Health (…and Housing) and his ‘vision’ come to life in the creation of the National Health Service.

Nye is, to my mind, a masterclass in writing. The scene in Tredegar Library is a particular favourite of mine, delivered with a deftness of touch but an undeniable Welsh Valleys flavour. Another is the ‘seam’ with Nye’s father, David; a poetic explanation of what it truly meant to be a ‘learned miner’ with the ‘one true blow’ counterbalanced perfectly with the undeniable voice of the Valleys Welshman. The writing throughout truly captures the lives, the spirits, the souls of the people of the coalmining town that Nye Bevan called home and the wider political world he came to inhabit. Tim Price’s pen brings the Valleys to life before my eyes and it is a Valleys that is achingly familiar to me.

The set is striking and with a swipe of a hospital curtain we are transported throughout the world of Nye. Vicki Mortimer’s striking set with its various levels of green ward curtains move us effortlessly throughout the tableaus, and when they are fully removed, the stage is all the starker and bleaker for it. The emptiness of the stage with the single hospital bed at the end of Act One is stunning in its emptiness and simplicity, and shows the audience, with brutal honesty, that the end of a life is just a son holding his father in his arms and telling him not to fight anymore. The projection design by Jon Driscoll is one of my favourite parts of the production, in particular the scene where Nye first takes up the mantle of Minster for Health and crowds of people in need start walking towards him in desperation. It’s so simple but the execution is flawless. Lighting, sound and music are also excellent, designed by Paule Constable, Donato Wharton and Will Stuart respectively.

Director Rufus Norris is joined by the Revival’s Co-Director Francesca Goodridge, alongside Co-Choreographers, Steven Hoggett and Jess Williams. The way the cast and ensemble move and flow in this production is beautiful; humorous and heartbreaking. The flow and creation of tableaus in Nye, quite frankly, takes my breath away and is an absolute testament to the direction and choreography of the piece.

The cast of Nye is, without exception, phenomenal. There are very few changes from the production in 2024, and you can feel the trust and security that the actors feel in one another. The physicality as they swap and change from various ages in some cases, and roles in others, occurs without fault and without ever jarring the audience’s imagination, morphing from nurse to sister, doctors to politicians (and back again). I would be remiss, of course, not to mention, Michael Sheen in the titular role. He truly embodies Aneurin Bevan; never shying away from his flaws and human condition, with a healthy tot of charm thrown in. The physical wrench of his stutter is painful to watch, juxtaposed with his burgeoning confidence as he first meets Jennie Lee (played with great poise by Sharon Small). I never thought I would get to see Michael Sheen musical performance, full of vigour and swagger; and only a heartbreaking few moments later we see him clutching his dying father in his arms, in a moment which left the audience reeling. What a huge weight to fall on an actor’s shoulders to portray, not only a real person, but one so universally revered and admired, even idolised in his hometown. The respect, poise and gravitas that Michael Sheen brings to this role is nothing short of breathtaking.

Nye truly is a love letter to the National Health Service, in a time where it needs OUR care and attention after years of giving so much of that to us. The play is not so much a ‘call to arms’ as a reminder of all it took to get Nye’s vision to be realised and of the utter travesty it would be to lose that now. But Nye is more than a story of the realisation of the health service; it’s the journey of a man, his life, his triumphs, his flaws, and the people who touched his life along the way. Nye is an absolute triumph and a testament to every single person who has brought Aneurin Bevan back to our minds and our hearts.