By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Monday 19 February and runs through 13 April 2024 RUNTIME: 190 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

It’s 1948 and Keeley Hawes (TV’s  It’s A Sin) is GP, housewife and budding MP Iris Elcock who is working all hours to create Nye Bevan’s National Health Service.

• Read on for reasons including how this drama is beautifully crafted and staged

Travelling home from London on the train she meets Jack Davenport’s (TV’s This Life) George Blythe who is a Shropshire-boy-done-good and Hollywood film star.

He initially finds her over-earnest and she despairs he is all surface and no depth but opposites eventually attract.

Jamie Lloyd recently used an onstage camera and black and white live images on a back of stage screen to thrilling effect in Sunset Boulevard (Savoy Theatre) and Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, Michael Longhurst (Next To Normal, Donmar) and Ann Yee work a similar magic here in the 1st act.

The meet-cute is very Brief Encounter, a talking point between our unlikely and both married couple, and the film effects illustrate the professional world Blythe inhabits but also the metaphorical leap from ‘black and white to technicolour’ that Elcock is experiencing as she reflects on home life with a husband who is not much interested in her sexually.

There’s a revolve in the middle of this 251-seater venue and under pressure stagehands whizz spotlights, scenery and props back and forth at lightning speed as the action plays out in multiple locations.

Writer Lucy Kirkwood (The Witches, National Theatre) pivots around the idea of the creation of the NHS 75 years ago but we suspect it is far less central to the plot here than the forthcoming Nye at the National starring Michael Sheen.

Hawes and Davenport are surrounded by a fine supporting cast playing multiple roles and it’s all credit to Pearl Mackie (The Birthday Party, Harold Pinter Theatre), Siobhan Redmond and Tom Goodman-Hill (Limehouse, Donmar Warehouse) for drawing such vivid characters with little time.

We’re in the front row at this intimate venue and Hawes and Davenport make for an interesting couple to invest in, Kirkwood has created a strong drama which merits its extended run time and we look forward to the possibility of a West End transfer to a bigger venue for this beautifully crafted and staged drama that captivates the eyes and mind.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Donmar Warehouse
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