TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Aaron Shosanya, Tom Robinson. Photo by Johan Persson

From time to time one takes a seat in the theatre full of wonder, and a few hours later you leave filled with equal wonder. You start by wondering how a book can be effectively dramatised and leave wondering at what has just been so successfully achieved. Last night in Eastbourne was such an occasion, how could anyone think it possible to create and perform a stage version of Harper Lee’s brilliant novel and bring it so vividly to life. I left wishing that so many of the recent stage adaptations of classic novels that I have seen, and dare I say it, endured, had been a quarter as good as this.

It surely has to start with an effective concept, a device that will allow a story that takes place in multiple locations to be convincingly conveyed. This for the most part is achieved by clever design, a set that is lit with clarity and transforms with ease and with speed. That said there were moments when doors and windows were trucked on and around the stage to very little effect, I’m not sure I need to see a door and fly screen to understand when a character is told to leave a room, that they have left that room, but that is of course just me.

Anna Munden, Scout. Photo by Johan Persson

The whole is narrated by Scout, Jem and Dill, and it is done so effectively and so beautifully that from the opening moments I was fully engaged. Anna Munden is perfect in the role of tom-boy (are we allowed to use that description?), not that I care really, when the character was created that would easily have been appropriate. Here we get a gentle but at the same time fiercely inquisitive Scout, full of energy and full of compassion. It is the beating heart of the production and a pure delight. So too is Dylan Malyn as Dill, a delicate portrayal of a simple soul, so gently delivered that at no point does he become a cliche, very fine acting indeed. The role of Jem was taken by understudy Jonathan Rubin, but one would never have known, or needed to be told. His performance was flawless and compelling. The three young people at the core of this heartbreaking story were convincingly adolescent, but youth delivered with such maturity.

The entire company, a large cast with few playing multiple roles, captured that sense of period so well. It took me a few minutes to attune my ears and brain to the accents and speech patterns, and The Congress Theatre is a cavernous space in which vocal projection can be swallowed up, but I soon found my aural footing.

Tom Robinson is a part of few words but when called upon Aaron Shosanya is marvellous, reserved and quietly unapologetic, his innocence masterfully displayed and his sense of the inevitability of his destiny never once manifesting in anger.

Richard Coyle, Atticus Finch. Photo by Johan Persson

Central to the whole is lawyer Atticus Finch, a man who at these outset declares that he is not the right man for the job of defending a poor black worker. Richard Coyle’s depiction of the man is so well balanced, quiet, reserved and thoughtful, no histrionics or rage, even when anger and rage is appropriate, he plays it out so effectively. It could not be better done.

Lee’s brilliant novel is served well here and the story has a poignancy and relevance, not only in telling a story of historic interest but of a hatred and prejudice that still exists to this day.

Andrew Kay

3 December

The Congress Theatre Eastbourne

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