To Kill a Mockingbird. To 1 October.
Salisbury
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
by Harper Lee adapted by Christopher Sergel
Salisbury Playhouse To 1 October 2005
Mons-Weds 7.30 pm; ThurSat 8.00 pm Mat 29 Sept, 1 Oct 2.30pm
Audio-described 29 Sept 2.30pm & 8pm
BSL Signed 28 Sept
Runs 2hr 27min One Interval
TICKETS: 01722 320333 www.salisburyplayhouse.com
Review Mark Courtice: 21 September 2005
The heart of this play is in the right place - and on its sleeve. Harper Lee's story of prejudice and murder feels old fashioned now, but its heart is definitely in the right place. Atticus Finch has to defend family man Tom Robinson from trumped up charges of rape. His children watch horrified as small town Alabama prejudice smothers justice and in the process learn something about how they should treat the outsider.
Set in 1935, and written as a novel in 1960, we might think that the battle has been won so a production like this is no longer relevant. While a modern audience is genuinely horrified by the casual expression of bigotry in horrible words the play suggests we are still complicit; and so we are placed in the position of the jury, looking down into the cockpit of the baking hot town and the cauldron of the courtroom.
Director Joanna Read and designer Nancy Surman set the play in the round. Salisbury's main house looks great in this form, the only drawbacks being the large acting area that results and some wayward acoustics making it sometimes difficult to hear from the "stage" side of things. Long entrances through the auditorium tend to slow things down too. Surman places a long road down the centre, good for the town, but dividing the courtroom into two, blurring the focus.
The play is lumpenly constructed; often long speeches combine chunks of plot with chunks of moralising, so you cannot miss the message. These moments hold things up in Read's production and combined with the staging make it curiously uninvolving.
In other respects the production hits the spot, with consistent accents for instance making it seem if everyone really did grow up together. Richard Heffer's Atticus is more equivocal than just the heroic speech-maker; he finds vulnerability as well as moral clarity.
It is the children's journey to tolerance and understanding that is Lee's sign of hope. They sit at the centre of the play and they have to be good. Read's youngsters, Amy Brown, Jamie Harding, and Jake Thornton (all adult actors) are just right, engaging and engaged without resorting to "childish" tricks.
Maudie Atkinson: Francesca Ryan
Stephanie Crawford: Katharine Barker
Heck Tate/Nathan Radley: Tony Boncza
Scout Finch: Amy Brown
Calpurnia: Lorna Gayle
Mr Cunningham/Mr Gilmer: Tom Bevan
Reverend Sykes: Okon Jones
Boo Radley/Judge Taylor: Tim Meats
Jem Finch: Jamie Harding
Mrs Dubose/Mayella Ewell: Nia Gwynne
Bob Ewell: Neal Barry
Dill: Jake Thornton
Atticus Finch: Richard Heffer
Tom Robinson: Ariyon Bakare
Director: Joanna Read
Designer: Nancy Surman
Lighting: Jim Simmons
Music: Olly Fox
Sound: Kevin Scott
2005-09-26 10:38:45