Our Town - Welsh National Theatre ★★★★

Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer-winning Our Town is set in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, in the years between 1901 and 1913 and was first performed on January 22nd, 1938. Its themes, however, are universal and timeless. Acts 1 and 2, before the intermission, are ‘Daily Life’ and ‘Love and Marriage’ and, as the omniscient Stage Manager (Michael Sheen in this production) says, “There’s another act coming after this. I reckon you can guess what that’s about.” It is believed that Dylan Thomas was inspired by Our Town to write Under Milk Wood, which is why the new Welsh National Theatre has chosen Our Town for its inaugural production, which is co-produced with Rose Theatre.

Grover’s Corners is a small, ordinary town of (following the birth of twins on the morning in which the tale begins) 2,642 ordinary people. Guided by the Stage Manager, who makes no secret of the fact that we are watching a play that he both narrates and participates in, we join them going about their daily lives—delivering newspapers, milk and babies; singing at the local church; going to school; growing up; falling in love; getting married and dying and, now and again along the way, stopping to admire the stars and smell the heliotropes.

The curtain is up as the audience takes their seats, the stage lit. An unshaded, wooden, standard lamp and a ladder take centre stage, surrounded by several planks of wood, laid flat. Towards the rear are a line of wooden chairs, a collection of taller ladders, and some grasses. Over the course of 3 acts, in the hands of the cast, these simple props will bring our town to life.

Planks become the town’s main thoroughfare, the railway line, both the exteriors and interiors of houses, shops, and, in one of many gentle, kindly humorous moments, distinctly different denominational churches. Ladders become windows and gravestones. Chairs become almost everything else that is required. This ingeniously simple and highly effective staging confirms the Guardian’s 2023 view of designer Hayley Grindle as “a stage sensation to watch out for”. The beautifully fluid movement of the cast as they arrange these scenes is directed by Jess Williams. Kimberley Noble (Ensemble) epitomises the grace and elegance of the vision. The only false note in the choreography is the strange way in which a funeral party approaches the graveyard. At the opposite end of the scale, there’s a magical beauty to a wedding party paused mid-celebration by the Stage Manager. The lighting by Ryan Joseph Stafford enhances the performance throughout and gives this still the glory of a Caravaggio.

Our Town is not perfect. The play is slight; its denouement less a revelation than a reminder of something we all know. More specific to this production, attempts to Welsh-ify the play are slim: the town is renamed, Main Street becomes Y Stryd Fawr, but people still value goods in dollars and travel to Boston. It’s unclear whether these limited nods to the Welsh language are by design or due to constraints imposed by the playwright’s estate. Whether they help locate the play in Wales or, juxtaposed with the many remaining Americanisms, create a jarring barrier to immersion is up for debate. The Welsh-accented cast and the inclusion of Welsh language hymns are much more successful in seamlessly creating a sense of location and would have worked well alone. This is nit-picking, though, as this is a wonderful production.

Many fine television actors are not natural stage performers; projection can step too easily over the line into shouting and everything can become forced. Several of the faces on stage are familiar from television (both Welsh and English language) but this cast also have long stage credits to their names. This is a highly accomplished theatrical cast, with everyone performing at a very high standard. Amongst them, Yasemin Ozdemir as a wonderfully natural and beguiling Emily, Rhodri Meilir (her father, Mr Webb), whose comic timing is perfect, and Peter Devlin (an endearing, believable George Gibbs, desperate to be his best self) stand out. However, Michael Sheen stands above them all as a master of the craft. His Stage Manager is twinkling, in control of the lights, the skies and the other characters. He is subtle in voice and action and shares an easy bond with the audience for whom he breaks the fourth wall. That audience, being faced with difficult truths, can have no better guide for the journey: this Stage Manager is kind but honest (brutally so when necessary), and utterly believable. Sheen’s clear, natural, conversational style, filled with the warmth of Welsh vowels, conjures strong emotions and occasional tears with the simplest of words. It’s hard, having seen this production, to imagine anyone else taking the role.

Our Town is nearing the end of its run in Swansea before going on a limited tour, ending at Rose Theatre. If it is not coming to your town, it’s worth travelling for. Our Town is a beautifully realised, poignant yet humorous reminder of our transience.