Joel Horwood’s stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s fantasy novel, inspired by his own childhood, proves to be enthralling storytelling, inventively staged and beautifully performed, and much darker than I was expecting.
It’s a complex story which starts at a funeral, where a mysterious old woman reminisces with a man, before we are taken back to his childhood home where he lived with his widowed father and younger sister. The family, particularly the boy, is shattered when their lodger commits suicide. He befriends Lettie, a neighbour who lives with her mum and grandma, all who seem to have special powers. Lettie and the boy take an adventure into the woods, which contains all sorts of weird creatures, and the boy gets bitten when he wanders off. Back at home, he finds that they have a new lodger, the very controlling Ursula, who he takes an instant dislike to. From here, the conflict between them escalates and he asks Lettie’s family to help him find a solution. Ursula is vey sinister, the creatures in the wood scary and it’s a very dark tale.
Samuel Blenkin is simply extraordinary as the boy, on stage virtually throughout, in a role that is both physically and emotionally challenging. Jade Groot as his feisty younger sister and Marli Siu as Lettie are both terrific too, all three totally believable as young kids. In fact, the whole cast are excellent, including an ensemble dressed in black who make scene changes captivating, brilliantly choreographed by Steven Hoggett; they even move people around the apron stage, which itself gives an intimacy to the storytelling. Fly Davies and the rest of the design team weave their magic with relatively simple but creative components that spark your imagination. I’m not familiar with the work of director Katy Rudd, but I was greatly impressed by her staging.
A great addition to the NT repertoire, which I think is going to be a big hit.
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