Stage adaptations of well-loved novels are always tricky, but Christopher Sergel‘s ingenious turn on Harper Lee’s classic To Kill A Mockingbird is a most successful one. From the very beginning the show 
feels like a love letter to the book: it’s respectful of the material and manages to maintain the familiar first-person narration alongside the acting. The latter is provided by a strong ensemble cast who successfully create the world of the Deep South and its inhabitants with just a few props and costumes. They move around Jon Bausor‘s essential but evocative set in what feels like a fluid choreography.
At the centre of the action there are three young performers who were so, so good that I had to keep reminding myself they were only kids. On the performance I saw, Scout was played brilliantly by Rosie Boore who nailed the tomboy charm of the character. She had great chemistry with both Billy Price as Scout’s brother Jem and Milo Panni as adorable mini-gentleman Dill. A lot of the show rides on these characters and the way they react to the events in the story, and these young actors more than rose to the challenge.
We are introduced to the name of Atticus Finch early on by the children, but we are made to wait a while before Robert Sean Leonard appears on the scene. And boy is it worth the wait! He brings us a tired and stern man to begin with, but he lets us see more and more of Atticus’ kindness and strength, with a crescendo that culminates in the court scene. The house lights go up and we, the audience, are addressed by him as the jurors in Tim Robinson’s trial. This moment sent chills down my spine: it was passionate and heartbreaking at the same time, the appeal of a man who knows there is no chance in hell things are going to change, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to give it his all.
The trial scene is uncomfortable to watch, as it should be, and, like the kids, we can’t quite believe how Robinson (played by Eke Chukwu on the night, who movingly embodied the injustice of the situation) could be condemned. The attacks on him and on negroes in general are pretty hard to swallow for a modern audience, but director Timothy Sheader does a brilliant job of this and other difficult passages.
This production (originally created for Regents Park’s Open Air Theatre in 2013) is a true tribute to the novel and it struck me as the best possible way to tell this particular story. I went in expecting a good show with competent performances, I left having been blown away by the brilliance of it. A definite Theatre Truffle.
To Kill A Mockingbird ends its UK tour next Saturday 25th July at the Barbican Centre. The remaining performances are mostly sold out, but do try for Returns on the day, this is an adaptation worth seeing.
Theatre Truffles 