Richmond Theatre – To Kill a Mockingbird

One of my all time favourite quotes is from this modern American classic by Harper Lee: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” so I was delighted when this York Theatre Production arrived at Richmond Theatre. After the long Bank Holiday weekend of frivolity, a walk across the warm but breezy Richmond Green to the lovely building with a terrace bar and decorative interior for some dramatic entertainment felt good.

At the start there was recorded music from the Deep South playing and the stage bore a large wooden structure – initially forming a barn, but later effectively transforming into the Court House. We meet our heroine as an adult (Jean Lousie Finch – played by Jacqueline Wood in pearls) narrating the story about her childhood as Scout. Whilst I didn’t see what the occasional projected video images added to the production (and had some difficulty hearing the recorded voices) I felt it worked well. Once our ears tuned into the Southern States accents, we all became gripped by the story.

I was particularly taken with the acting by Jacqueline Boatswain who played Calpurnia – the housekeeper - with her perfect balance of servitude with discipline. And I have to say that all the wiping of brows and fanning by those in Court actually made me feel rather warm, just as if I were in there in that sultry Alabama heat. The distress of Tom Robinson (played by Cornelius Macarthy) and his wife Helen (Elexi Walker) communicated effectively to the audience. The tension at the potential lynching outside was palpable. And I was as exasperated as any parent at Scout and Jem’s persistent disobedience of their father’s instructions to go in the house, leave the court house etc.

I took my teenage daughter along – it’s hard to get youngsters to read such books - and she really enjoyed it after I explained about how things used to be with regards to civil rights (how far we have come that our children can’t comprehend that someone should be treated differently as a result of their skin colour!.

The excellent court room drama is only on this week at Richmond so you’ll have to hurry if you want to see it.

The story in a nutshell: Young Scout (Grace Rowe) and her brother Jem (Matthew Pattimore) are growing up in the depression, a little embarrassed by their older father Atticus Finch (played brilliantly by Duncan Preston) who is a lawyer defending a young black man (Tom Robinson) accused of raping what would today be called “white trash” Mayella (played convincingly by Clare Corbett). The townsfolk are unhappy about Atticus’ role in the defence and there are frequent uses of the word “nigger” and ugly mob scenes (another great quote: “"A mob's always made up of people, no matter what”). A reclusive neighbour (Boo Radley (Matthew Rixon) saves the children from Mayella’s angry father.