Of Mice and Men

The dramatisation of classic fiction is a fashionable trend in British theatre and a trend that is fraught with pitfalls. Some companies pull it off with style whilst others simply try and fail. If you are an avid reader then the whole experience can either remind you of how great a book is or, leave you deeply dissatisfied that the heart of a book has been lost. This new production of John Steinbeck’s classic goes along way to succeeding and much of that is due to excellent performances from Richard Keigthley as George, Matthew Wynn as as Lennie and Andrew Boyer as Candy and one should also mention Kevin Mathurin as Crooks. It’s a stylish production, beautifully set and lit and it pulls no punches when it comes to gruesome elements of the story either delivering with full impact the bleak sadness of the tale. It only remains ton say that this a is a very good piece of work, but for me, no stage version could ever deliver the full package of Steinback’s beautiful command of language and its poetry.

12 March

Theatre Royal Brighton

Andrew Kay

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