Our Town reviews starring Michael Sheen: Critics praise Welsh National Theatre’s inaugural production

"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"

"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 show retains the early-20th-century New Hampshire names but gently integrates Welsh voices, references and (beautiful) hymns to ground the story afresh."

"Goodridge rolls with the play’s mood, working with movement director Jess Williams and the 18-strong ensemble to fill the stage with bustling action"

"It’s not perfect, sometimes too busy or too strident, but this is still a beautiful production of a great, wise play."

"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."

"Clear statement of intent from Welsh National Theatre"

"Michael Sheen anchors this bittersweet portrait of small-town life, in this first production for his Welsh National Theatre"

"Full of tenderness and humanity, this inaugural production for Welsh National Theatre, from artistic director Michael Sheen and creative associate Russell T Davies, is both a quiet meditation on mortality and a clear statement of intent from a company seeking to platform Welsh talent and produce large-scale work at a time of severe funding cuts."

"Director Francesca Goodridge approaches the piece with stately pacing, investing the mundane events of the characters’ lives with a palpable sense of quiet, unhurried grandeur."

"Heading the boisterous all-Welsh cast, Sheen plays the Stage Manager with just the right balance of mischief and gravitas, displaying some expert, understated comic timing"

"Though the production’s dreamlike tone sometimes risks making these characters’ loves and losses feel abstract, the piece remains a powerful and persuasive appeal to find beauty and connection in every moment of our lives, however brief or humble they may be."

"Michael Sheen launches Wales’s new National Theatre in triumphant style"

"With a few minor changes, the actor makes Our Town, a 1930s classic about American small-town life, feel closer to home"

"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, comic touches and energetic, versatile use of wooden planks and chairs to create a sense of locale."

"Even if the characters are conventional archetypes, you still care about them; and in touching our hearts, this new venture – which has mountains yet to climb – has taken its vital first steps."

"It’s the perfect, low-key but deeply theatrical beginning to this new venture, a conjuring of something from nothing."

"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."

"... Hayley Grindle’s delicately designed set is both real and unreal."

"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"

"Goodridge’s unobtrusive but tight direction manages the shift with grace, gently underlining the play’s moral: it’s important to focus on every moment because it can soon be gone."

"This revival of a slightly sentimental classic shows just what he and this new company can achieve. It makes the future look bright."

"Michael Sheen brings warmth and wit to Welsh National Theatre opener"

"Thornton Wilder’s classic American play is transposed for this company’s inaugural production. The result is heartfelt, though its emotional bite can seem uncertain"

"A revival of Thornton Wilder’s great American play about a provincial town, north of New York, might have carried strong state-of-the-nation resonances at this dark, Trumpian juncture."

"... But Wilder’s play, premiering in the interwar years, in 1938, is more eternal than political, dramatising a close-knit community navigating life, love and death. And the transposition is convincing here, in spirit, encapsulating the lilt of its Welshness, noisier, more playful and lyrical than the original"

"Sheen, with waistcoat and watch-chain, is in his element, mixing mischievousness, earnestness and bathos."

"It is a handsome production overall, filled with abundant physicality and some moments spark with magic, but there are also some broader inconsistencies. While the production feels Welsh in spirit and look – there is period costume, Welsh accents and names – its reference points are still prevailing American."

"There is too much light and warmth, and not enough tension or conflict, so that this community, until the final, shortest act, seems like The Waltons in south Wales."