Having read the novel ‘Songbird’ by Sebastian Faulks some years ago, it always stood out to me as a novel which really brought home the horrors of World War 1 and the horrendous conditions the troops were living and fighting in.
And this reproduction of the classic war novel for the stage certainly recaptured the pain and suffering, both physical and mental, of the soldiers on the front lines including the infamous battle of the Somme between the British and French armies against the German empire.
The story revolves around the main protagonist, Stephen Wraysford (played on stage by James Ealer) who ends up a soldier on the front line in Amiens during the First World War, and the second of his grandson whose 1970s plotline follows his attempts to recover an understanding of Stephen’s experience of the war.
Embedded within this war novel is a love story between Stephen and Isabelle, the lady of the house in which Stephen is invited to stay while he writes a report on the business of, René Azaire, the man of the house, as he courts investment from England.
The actors in Rachel Wagstaff‘s adaptation of the novel for the stage all did a superb job in bringing the classic novel to the stage. The stage design by Richard Kent cleverly brought the opulence of the house and the later cramped conditions of the tunnels dug by the soldiers during the battle of the Somme to life with minimalistic design which left the audience’s imagination to fill in the rest.
This production brought the sad and somber realities of WW1 to the stage and, although, understandably didn’t touch upon all moments in the novel, expertly delivered what scenes it did with beautifully enacted dialogue which kept the audience captivated throughout.
During the love scenes between Stephen and Isabelle in act 1, one could could have heard a pin-drop in the audience.
Rachel Wagstaff certainly did a great job in producing a stage performance of this classic novel and is well worth seeing if you get the chance.
Review by James Toomey
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