Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: James Bolt, Phil Cheadle, Tilly Gaunt, Adrian Grove, Joanna Holden, David Nellist, Christopher Price.
It may not be considered as the pinnacle of Dennis Potter’s career as a playwright, that surely goes to the plays Pennies From Heaven and The Singing Detective but Blue Remembered Hills is certainly a Potter classic and one that shows that cruelty is not just confined to the adult world in which the backdrop of the Second World War rages but resides within us all from birth.
The rolling hills of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire is full of the sound of child-like laughter, the squeals of delight as children play out the summer days and with part of their mind on the war that has seen their fathers go off to war and the adult world crumbling around them, this crumbling, the fracturing of society is reflected in the way that the seven children treat each other, sometimes with childhood affection but mostly with vile barbs and violence. That blossoming barbarity is framed when one of their number who is feeling neglected, alone and full of regret, does something that will change their lives forever.
It is these thoughts that are tantamount in the way the play is presented by Northern Stage. The bare minimum in terms of props, the highest possible regard for Dennis Potter’s script and seven actors who gave solid and successful performances in making the audience believe in the world of childish make believe and inherent cruelty.
This cruelty was captured perfectly between all seven cast members as the strongest kicked down to the weakest member, the emotionally scared and beaten Donald, played with great touching accuracy by Adrian Grove. The sounds of genuine nervous laughter coupled with some great humour showed that whilst children can be a source of amusement with their innocent laughter, sometimes that glee is born out of brutality and the start of malice.
An excellent production and directed wonderfully by Psyche Stott. A play that should be seen in the hope it will remind all who see it that children will always ape and copy what they see in their parent’s behaviour. Blue Remembered Hills is one of the stand-out plays of the 20th Century that deals with cruelty committed and afflicted by children. Both touching and worryingly brilliant, Blue Remembered Hills is a play that deserves to be reminisced over for a long time to come.
Ian D. Hall