Review: FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, Theatre Royal Windsor - Tour
Photo credit: Sam Pharoah
You may have read Thomas Hardy at school or seen one of the major film or TV adaptations of his works and if so, you will be familiar with his tragic tales set in what has become known as Hardy’s Wessex, a fictionalised version of parts of Dorset, Wilshire, and Somerset around Dorchester and Salisbury. The stories revolve around the bleak rural landscape and hard work and challenges of those who live, work and travel through that area. Far from the Madding Crowd was the fourth of his novels published in 1874 and producers Conn Artistes (from the Connaught Theatre in Worthing) have boldly tackled adapting the full 500-page story to the stage with just five actors and touring to forty-three relatively small regional theatres, often for just one night! When we caught up with the show, halfway though the tour at Theatre Royal Windsor where it plays all week, we just had to admire the ambition and the efforts of the extremely hard-working cast.
The tale is a relatively straightforward one in which the central female protagonist is pursued by three men over several years. Bathsheba Everdene (Abi Cassoon Thompson) is a headstrong, independently minded woman who inherits her uncle's farm but curiously seems to reject the advances of men who want to marry her, but pursues them when they don’t. Her three suitors are the upright and patient farmer neighbour, William Boldwood (Ross Muir) willing to wait for her decision; the gambling, and often drunken Sergeant Frank Troy (Jaymes Sygrove); and the loyal and faithful shepherd, come bailiff, Gabriel Oak (Joshua Davey). The fifth critical character is Fanny Robin (Emily Hunter), Troy’s true love whose tragic life is a catalyst for the dramatic final chapters. The cast are required to multi role the other members of the community and provide the folky musical interludes between scenes which, together with spoken narrative, explains the narrative development.
The staging is minimalistic, crudely painted and designed to travel in the back of a small Luton van. The rickety small truck is used for exterior and interior of Bathsheba cottage, Oak’s shepherd hut, Boldwood’s house, Troy’s barrack, and a horse and gig. Projection on a small upstage screen tries to add some more sense of location but we never get the feel of the sweeping heath land of Hardy’s story, and the inconsistent lighting fails to create real atmosphere or drama, occasionally leaving the cast in semi darkness. They recreate some of the most memorable and dramatic scenes relying on our imagination as when 200 sheep plunge over a cliff, or when a hay rick catches fire and threatens homes, or a storm rages over the stored hay bales. Enhanced projection would have helped set these scenes. When Oak is required to save a flock of sheep struck down by eating clover, three stuffed pillowcases comically portray the rescued animals. Oddly, when the hanging judge arrives towards the end to pronounce the sentence, the audience responds with a ripple of amusement. To sustain our interest for nearly three hours and buy into the unfolding tragedy, we need more assistance from the staging or some judicious cuts.
The cast do speak with wonderfully clear diction in a declamatory style, often addressing the audience directly and avoiding the need for amplification, although when they do amplify offstage music, it does drown out the on stage voices. There is no discernible attempt to create rural southwest England accents which might have drawn us into the location and Hardy’s world more, and it always remains actors taking his words to the stage.
It is interesting that a story written over 150 years ago should still feel relevant today. As Bathsheba says as she battles the male dominated world , “I will never forgive God for making me a woman and for giving me a pretty face” and she aspires to “be a bride, without having to have a husband.” She is a pioneering heroine battling the social class divides but caught up in the complexities of emotions and relationships but protected and sustained by her inheritance. It is a credible attempt to bring this classic tale to the stage and smaller venues around the country on a limited budget (which shows) and the producers and cast are to be applauded for their efforts. However, you expect to see higher production values on Windsor’s Theatre Royal stage.
The theatre landscape needs producers like Play to the Crowd and Conn Artistes to take risks and develop new works for small regional venues, and perhaps larger producers like Bill Kenwright Limited could enhance their budgets to raise the standards but we admire the intent and the wonderful efforts of the cast to bring this book to the stage. If you want a reminder of Thomas Hardy’s epic tales, you can catch this production on tour until the end of April. It might inspire you to pick up his book and read it again.
** Two stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne
Far From The Madding Crowd plays at Theatre Royal Windsor until 15 March, with further info here.