| "The Perfect, Deeply Theatrical Beginning to This New Venture" |
Welsh National Theatre |
| Reviewer Compilation of Our Town , Swansea Grand Theatre , January 26, 2026 |
The Financial Times headed its review “Our Town — Michael Sheen excels in Thornton Wilder classic to relaunch Welsh National Theatre. A joyous, tender staging at Swansea’s Grand Theatre is a cracking statement of intent.”In excerpt: “The new Welsh National Theatre springs into life with a joyous, tender, Welsh-inflected staging of Thornton Wilder’s 1938 classic: a play that urges you to cherish the fleeting moments of everyday life and foregrounds the role of art in framing that message. Propelled to the stage by the galvanising energy of artistic director Michael Sheen and directed by Francesca Goodridge, this vibrant ensemble production of Our Town is a celebration not just of communality but of the way theatre can create a transient community of its own. This is a cracking statement of intent for a new national theatre. “Goodridge’s staging (a touring co-production with Kingston’s Rose Theatre) leans into Wilder’s purposeful theatricality. The audience is greeted by a near empty stage, dominated by a stepladder and a “ghost light”, the single lamp left burning in any darkened theatre. When Sheen’s narrator, known simply as Stage Manager, steps into the space and hangs his jacket on the lamp stand, it signals not just the start of the show but a reclamation of sorts — the taking up of the storytelling baton. “Swiftly he summons Wilder’s small fictitious town, inviting the audience to sketch in with him the inhabitants of Grover’s Corners. In Hayley Grindle’s design those original props — the ladder and the lamp — multiply and become integral to the imagined world of the play, as the cast build and dismantle it. The show retains the early-20th-century New Hampshire names but gently integrates Welsh voices, references and (beautiful) hymns to ground the story afresh.” Abridged, with thanks and acknowledgement, from the full review which can be read by subscription at: https://www.ft.com/content/594bfa0a-bb74-43f3-9130-aced133c6875 * * * * The Times headed its review "Acting this good is rare and joyous" "Swansea Grand plays host to the Welsh National Theatre’s first production, and the actor is in his element, adding gravitas, wit and soul. "Say what you like about Michael Sheen (and most of what I like to say about him is what an amazing actor he is)... but he puts his money where his mouth is. "Our Town, a 1938 American classic by Thornton Wilder in Welsh accents. And it works. Maybe it’s a fudge — Wilder’s estate wouldn’t allow any tweaks of argot, and an early “well I declare” is a small hurdle to jump — but the sense of community registers, as do Wilder’s copious ideas about how easily we all sleepwalk through life without giving thanks for its everyday wonders." "The Welsh National Theatre’s challenge will be to make shows in which Sheen is not the standout element. He is simply in his element here, both outside and inside the action, a narrator also making telling cameos as characters. He adds gravitas, wit, a sonorous soulfulness and makes it all look easy as pie. Acting this good is rare and joyous." Abridged, with thanks and acknowledgement, from the full review which can be read by subscription at: https://www.thetimes.com/culture/theatre-dance/article/our-town-review-michael-sheen-gives-a-rare-and-joyous-acting-display * * * * What's On Stage headed its review "It’s the perfect, low-key but deeply theatrical beginning to this new venture, a conjuring of something from nothing." “The house lights are up in the ornate white and red Grand Theatre, Swansea, the audience still settling as Michael Sheen walks onto the stage in a brown, three-piece suit and gently moves the ghost light to the wings. He hangs up his jacket and rolls up his sleeves before turning to speak, naming the play and the players. “It’s the perfect, low-key but deeply theatrical beginning to this new venture, a conjuring of something from nothing. “And Wilder’s play too, written in 1938, but set from 1901 to 1913, is a canny start, an evocation of community and a plea to note the little things that illuminate an ordinary life, it relies on creating its effects through the power of the imagination and the impact of people sitting in a room listening to a story. “Sheen is magnificent as the Stage Manager, his expansiveness and subtlety gently guiding us through the first act, a description of a day in the life of Grover’s Corners, a small town in New Hampshire where nothing happens but everything matters. The place is American but the accents and some place names are Welsh; the hymns gently sung by the Congregational Choir – “leave loudness to the Methodists,” the choir master begs – are in Welsh too. “With the help of Sheen’s warm narration, stepping in and out of the action, playing different parts with deft lightness, the characters of Grover’s Corners come gradually to life: the harassed housewives stringing beans; the doctor delivering twins; the newspaper proprietor dispensing halting history and wisdom. The sense of bustling life is there, but also of constriction: a clever bit of mime suggests that the drunken, unhappy choirmaster might be longing for a gay love. “From the start, Wilder’s play is pre-figured by a sense of doom. Sheen tells us in the opening act that the loose-limbed newsboy, the cleverest in the class, will die in the war, and the sense of death in the midst of life is embodied in the final act, set in the graveyard where all light seeps away and the dead sit on ladders, watching the living with cool dispassion. “An awful lot of sorrow has quietened down up here,” says Sheen, his voice fading away. Abridged, with thanks and acknowledgement, from the full review which can be read at: https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/our-town-with-michael-sheen-at-swansea-grand-theatre-and-and-on-tour-review_1709402/ * * * * The Telegraph headed its review with “Michael Sheen launches Wales’s new National Theatre in triumphant style.” “Beautifully directed by Francesca Goodridge it's a potent statement of intent with a spiritual frisson. “The piece evokes seemingly inconsequential routines and age-old patterns of youth, courtship, marriage and death. Yet, thanks to abundant lyricism and a philosophical appreciation of time, it renders the everyday extraordinary. “For all Sheen's allure it's an ensemble effort- with stirring tableaux and comic touches. “Even if the characters are conventional archetypes, you still care about them; and in touching our hearts, this new venture has taken its vital first steps.” The full review can be read by subscription at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/michael-sheen-wales-national-theatre/ |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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