Members of the LVth were treated to a performance of “To Kill a Mockingbird” at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre on Thursday June 13th. Harper Lee’s classic novel is one of the texts currently being studied for the iGCSE English Literature examination come May 2014. The production began with the cast revealing themselves amongst the audience, with one popping up to read from the novel in the seat next to Joel Carne!
The black, seemingly blank, stage was revealed to be a giant blackboard, which became a canvas for the child actors to chalk up their perspective of life in small-town Alabama. The only other object visible on stage – a tree with a tyre swing – changed halfway to have hanging from it a noose, reflecting the shift from the innocence of the novel’s opening towards the darker exploration of racial prejudice in the trial-dominated second half. Despite a strong turn from Robert Sean Leonard (recognisab
le from TV’s House) as Atticus Finch, it was the child actors playing Jem, Scout and Dill who stole the show, and tugged at the audience’s heartstrings. All in all, a super production.
JCM
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