Peoples Republic of South Devon

Far From The Madding Crowd (theatre review)

September 12th, 2008

- Far From The Madding Crowd - English Touring Theatre. Exeter Northcott Theatre, until September 27.
posted by Natasha Kuler-von-der-Luhe of shetribes.com

 

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To be honest, I never finished Thomas Hardy’s celebrated fourth novel, Far From the Madding Crowd. I, like many an inexperienced ‘classics’ reader, lost my footing in the shallows somewhere and was soon floundering around in plot. I am, however, moved to try reading it again having just returned from the Exeter Northcott Theatre, where four hundred pages of drama, desire and despair were woven together in a fabulous new production by English Touring Theatre.

Successfully adapted by Mark Healy and directed by Kate Saxon, Far From the Madding Crowd sees the spirited Bathsheba Everdene (Rebecca O’ Mara) inherit the farm of her late uncle, causing local moustaches to twitch with indignation when she decides to manage it herself. A headstrong and determined heroine, she is also a wonderfully three-dimensional character; as imperfect as the rest of us, with a stubborn streak a mile wide.

Her playful nature soon lands her in hot water with prosperous but lonely landowner William Boldwood (Stephen Billington), and swaggering Sergeant Troy (Adam Croasdell). It is not long before she is tangled in a situation that spirals rapidly out of control, pursued like a fox by the obsessive Boldwood and infatuated with the handsome, arrogant young soldier.

Throughout her trials, it seems the only person she can really trust is morally-upright, capable shepherd Gabriel Oak (Phil Cheadle). Although her pride sees them fall out more than once, he is a blunt but tender figure who tries to anchor her wilder flights of fancy without clipping her wings.

Eerily atmospheric, played out on a striking, skeletal set and beautifully lit, the performance was confident and daring, with highly enjoyable dramatic confrontations. And during the electrically charged scene I shall refer to for the sake of the unwary as ‘the coffin’, my jaw was rigid with tension and genuine unease started raising the hairs on hundreds of goosebumps. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom; the auditorium rippled with laughter more than once and I was captivated by some excellent action sequences with wonderful props.

Although the heavy editing necessary with most, if not all, classical adaptations can mean that some of the emotional depth of the characters must be sacrificed to time, the company was confident and engaging, easily drawing the audience into a story that might otherwise be too dense for the stage.

I caught up with producer Rachel Tackley during the interval. Flushed and bright-eyed, she declared herself ‘delighted’ with the production: “It’s so easy to be overwhelmed, particularly with a production of this size… the nerves were really jangling this afternoon but they’re all doing so well.”

And so they were. I won’t lie about time flying when you’re having fun, at two and a quarter hours this is a long play, but well-carried by brilliant design and sympathetic, believeable characters at both ends of the human spectrum – from quiet, sensible servant Liddy (Laura Elphinstone) to the naive and tragic Fanny Robin (Jennifer Bryden). The company have pulled together a smooth adaptation without damaging the integrity of the story.

There was but one cloud on the horizon. Tackley introduced us to the play onstage beforehand, announcing it as a world premiere (at which my euphoria threatened to send me sailing across the room); but proceeded to ask us to bear with them should hitches occur and they had to ’stop, and then quickly start again’. Please, please don’t apologise for the performance before it’s even begun. Because as far as we, the audience, were concerned (and my phone sound recorder bears enthusiastic, electronic witness to this as I pounced on unsuspecting people at the bar) it was some top-notch story-telling.

Copyright Natasha Kuler-von-der-Luhe 2008.

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