Gwyn Vaughan Jones as Atticus Finch
To Kill A Mockingbird, is one of those novels that most (!) people remember with great affection from their schooldays. Harper Lee's warm and affectionate story of the coming of age of "Scout" Finch, the daughter of a small town lawyer, amid the racism of the American deep south, has a resonance with most people, even though they may not have read or reread the novel for years, and I really feel that this nostalgia for Lee's novel sometimes camouflages the brutality within the story....such as child abuse,the abysmal treatment of the mentally ill, alcohol addiction, and of course the horrendous racial divide within a rural community.
This stage version is beautifully set by Mark Bailey on a simple dirt road square of stage. Silhouette's of the tired folk of Maycomb are placed against a "Gone with the Wind" sky before Scout (an excellent Amy Morgan) starts her narration through the eyes of the eight year old tomboy.
The racial and economic tensions of 1935 Alabama grow steadily, until the cracking courtroom scene ( played cleverly still on the dirt road) bats to and fro between the dirt poor white trash Ewells and Atticus Finch who is defending defendant Tom Robinson. This scene is the best thing in the play , and Rhian Blyth ( as the abused Myella Ewell) is a standout, but having said all that, not everything works as well in this stage play as it does in the 1962 movie version.
The climax where the Finch Children are pursued by the abusive Bob Ewell is rather rushed and trivialised, and is absolutely lacking in the nail biting tension we witnessed as James Anderson stalked the terrified Mary Badham in the movie, but I guess it is a small complaint in a generally superior and enjoyable stage production .
8/10
Off to bed.... working an early shift tomorrow
Here is a link to photos of the house from an old post:
ReplyDeletehttp://thatbritishwoman.blogspot.com/2009/06/photos-of-outside-of-house-and-more-on.html
http://thatbritishwoman.blogspot.com/2009/06/photos-from-acreage.html
You will see more photos, from May 2009 posts onwards. Its too cold and snowy to take photos at the moment.
Gill
I loved that book when I was in school.
ReplyDeleteOne of my all time fav books and movies. Have seen the movie and read the book countless times.
ReplyDeleteHi there,See below for my Mockingbird contribution but I can't seem to post in on your blog.If it's already there then fine but if not can you post it for me. Victor I've now written my reviews of this production so I can comment on yours. Nothing adverse, I think it's a superb production. For me the high spot is not simply the court case, although all of that is very good, but the summing up. Gwyn Vaughan Jones is fantastic here. On the night I saw it there were a number of coughers in the audience and there was coughing as he began the long speech. Very soon he silenced the full house as he quietly set out his arguments. I also slightly disagree with your opinion about the climax. Yes the physical action is sketched rather than being a full-out thrill but the aftermath comes over very strongly as Atticus realised that he himself now has to bend the law and by the end tears were filling my eyes. This production will tour Wales when is finishes in Mold and if any of you are in reach of it at any point then I urge you to go and see it, you won't regret it.
ReplyDeletethis a review by Victor who could not post it!
thanks victor