Birdsong
Newcastle Theatre Royal
Until Saturday 25 January 2025
Rachel Wagstaff’s stage adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’ massively successful World War 1 novel makes for a passionate, powerful and moving production under Alastair Whatley’s precise direction and in the hands of a first-rate company of actors.
Faulks’ 1993 novel is one of the nation’s most loved books and has been adapted for radio and TV, though no movie version has been developed as yet, despite constant rumours that one is on the cards. Rachel Wagstaff first created an adaptation of the novel in 2010 and it has evolved through a number of productions into what she now considers a completely new version.
Developing an effective stage drama from such a weighty novel, especially one so well-known, was bound to be a tricky task but Wagstaff and Faulks both feel that this production is the best one yet.
The first act commences the story of Stephen Wraysford, a young, orphaned Englishman, whose wealthy guardian sends him to pre-war Amiens to inspect a factory whose owner is seeking his investment. The owner is a brutal man who starves his workers and mistreats his young wife Isabelle, with whom Wraysford enters into a passionate affair, portrayed here with scenes of graphic, but not gratuitous, sexuality. Once they are discovered, they flee together to the South of France.
The second act is set in the trenches of the Somme in 1916, weaving together the stories of Wraysford, now a harsh, embittered junior officer, and Jack Firebrace, an irrepressible working-class Londoner, working as a tunneller. His warm, supportive and jokey relationships with his fellow, “sewer rats” serve as an effective counterpoint to Wraysford’s coldness and distance from all except his Captain. He refuses to take leave, even after being wounded, not wishing to go back to England, as he is trying to trace Isabelle, who, we discover, left him without explanation, before the war.
Wraysford is injured in a tunnel and, though he is thought to be dead, Firebrace insists on carrying his body to the surface and he miraculously revives, to recover in hospital in Amiens, where he goes in search of Isabelle. It would be probably be unhelpful and too full of spoilers to lay out the rest of the plot, except to say that act two culminates in a chilling moment as Wraysford leads his unit over the top. This act is particularly powerful as it develops the relationships between the tunnellers and sees them through the trials of trench warfare. It sets strong bonds of friendship and an indomitable spirit against a background of tragedy and the loss of faith.
Act three completes Wraysford’s and Isabelle’s story and that of Isabelle’s sister, Jeanne, to whom he had shown kindness some years before. It also resolves a second, rather sketchy narrative, where in the 1970s a young Englishman is seen to be searching for a war grave near the Somme. This replaces a much more developed plotline in the novel concerning Wraysford’s granddaughter and her gradually decoding his notebooks to find out his wartime story, whilst dealing with her own complex life. This, no doubt, is an understandable casualty of the need to simplify the text for dramatic clarity.
Richard Kent’s spartan but versatile set serves as an effective canvas for the diverse locations portrayed and Dominic Bilkey’s sound design and Jason Taylor’s claustrophobic lighting conjure the terrors of the trenches to great effect.
James Esler is very effective in portraying Wraysford’s journey, meeting the considerable demands of the role with skill and commitment. Charlie Russell’s beautifully detailed performance as Isabelle is a fascinating balance of respectable reserve and unfettered passion. Max Bowden’s Firebrace is a multi-faceted portrayal of warmth, humour and controlled emotion. His interaction with Tama Phethean’s robust and believable Shaw is almost unbearably poignant. As Jeanne, Natalie Radmall-Quirke is strong, charming and persuasive.
Sargon Yelda is effective in doubling the odious French factory owner and Wraysford’s decent Scottish Captain, and Roger Ringrose is memorably smug and creepy as a venal town councillor. Joseph Benjamin Baker and Raif Clarke give strong support as a lascivious young Welshman and an underage, terrified squaddie. James Findlay’s terrific folk voice provides some of the most moving moments, delivering Sophie Cotton’s haunting songs.
At almost three hours, despite Wagstaff’s plot simplification, it must be said that this makes for a long piece and it could still, perhaps, benefit from a little judicious pruning. Nevertheless, it is a production of impressive scale and achievement, carrying its audience along and delivering real emotional involvement and much food for thought, in our world where international events make us feel less secure every day.
Review: Jonathan Cash
Photos: Pamela Raith
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