Michael Sheen says NHS has been ‘integral’ to his life as he plays its founder

Michael Sheen said the NHS has been “integral” to his life as he is set to star as its founder in the second run of a hit theatre show.

The actor, 56, who plays Welsh Labour Party politician Aneurin “Nye” Bevan in the show Nye, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Just in the last couple of years, I’ve had a child be born into the world through the NHS and my father, just weeks ago, left the world helped by the NHS as well.

“So, it’s been integral to my life in the last couple of years. And I know it pushes buttons for everybody when they come and see the play.”

After a successful run last year, Sheen, a father-of-three, will reprise his role at the Olivier Theatre in London and later Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre.

The Welsh actor described Bevan’s life, from growing up in Tredegar, a mining town in South Wales, to becoming the minister for health in the post-war government as “extraordinary”.

Stammer

Bevan had a stammer but became known for the strength of his speaking in the House of Commons.

“He’s a man who becomes known for being one of the great orators of his time,” Sheen told GMB.

“And yet, he grew up a young boy in Tredegar, worked on the mines, very young and had this stammer.

“I think one of the most powerful scenes in the play is where he goes to Tredegar working men’s library and learns to expand his vocabulary so that when a word comes up that he knows he’s going to stammer on, he chooses another word, which is what added to that kind of extraordinary oratorical manner that he had later when he was in the Houses of Parliament.”

Bevan, described as the architect of the NHS, was the minister of health in Clement Attlee’s government from 1945 to 1951.

In the play, as he is confronted with death, Bevan reflects on his life from humble beginnings, his bruising encounters with Winston Churchill and a final tenure as minister of labour and national service.

Performance

Asked how he got into the role of Bevan, Sheen said: “I put on a bit of weight, as you can see.”

He added: “It’s a very physical performance; I’m barefoot all the way through it.”

Sheen launched a theatre company called Welsh National Theatre earlier this year.

The organisation is envisioned as separate from but complementary to Theatr Cymru, which was established in 2003 as the Welsh language national company.

National Theatre Wales closed its doors in its current form as a theatre company in December, after funding was withdrawn in 2023, which Sheen said was when he went into rehearsals for Nye.

He said: “We were looking at possibly our country not having its own national theatre.

“So, as a result of doing this play Nye and seeing how successful it was, how the audience really responded to it, particularly in Wales … but seeing that appetite was what kind of made me think, yeah, we can do this. Why not?”

Nye returns to the Olivier Theatre on Thursday.