Sebastian Faulks wrote his ‘Great War’ saga ‘Birdsong’ 30 years ago and Rachel Wagstaff’s new stage adaptation is a timely reminder that the only thing ‘great’ about that piece of history – also referred to as ‘The First World War’ -was its stupidity. So many young men on both sides lost their lives in appalling slime-filled, rat-infested trenches.
This latest stage production of ‘Birdsong’ is from the highly acclaimed Original Theatre Company stable and developed in association with the Royal British Legion.
It is directed with poignancy by Alastair Whatley and designed with clever minimalism by Richard Kent, who allows the action to flow seamlessly between above and below ground scenes. Jason Taylor’s lighting echoes the shifting moods with atmospheric simplicity and Dominic Bilkey ‘s soundscape includes an abundance of heart-thumping explosions.
The play is three hours in length including two intervals and spread across three acts. The first act is pre-war where we meet Stephen Wraysford (a powerful professional stage debut from James Esler), a young Englishman visiting a fabric production factory in Amiens, France, on behalf of potential investors. He meets and falls in love and lust with Isabelle Azaire the factory owners unappreciated wife (a delicate and passionate performance from Charlie Russell).
Picture by Pamela Raith. sTheir illicit affair sees them running off together when their secret is discovered, but ends tragically for Stephen when Isabelle disappears suddenly with no warning and for no fathomable reason.
Act Two is where the action shifts up a gear as the war is in full flow with Stephen now an officer in the British Army in charge of a unit at the Somme. Initially distant from his men, he finds solace in a friendship with Sapper Jack Firebrace (a riveting performance from Max Bowden).
The bleakness and everyday horror is well captured with a large slowly descending right-angled ceiling flat forcing the actors to crawl providing theatrical claustrophobia. There is also some laughter and song to provide a balance to the everyday nightmares.
Act Three flips between military life in the trenches and civilian life back in the homelands. The conclusion of the war also concludes Stephen’s search for Isabelle when he is finally reunited with her briefly by her sister Jeanne (delightful portrayal by Natalie Radmall-Quirke). She left him because she was pregnant and couldn’t bring herself to tell him.
Unfortunately, some of the more intimate moments were interrupted by the constant ringing of one audience member’s mobile phone, despite being reminded at the start of the show to switch phones off by a message from Sebastian Faulks himself. I’d have give the culprit a red card. Hats off to the actors for managing to keep going during these unwelcome intrusions.
In honesty I found it a tad overlong with some of the back stories bringing unnecessary clutter. That aside this Birdsong is a magnificent realisation with genuinely all-consuming moments of despair and joy. The tale may not fully capture Faulks’s epic – but it’s full of heart and passion of its’ own and is a fitting homage to horrors which should never be forgotten.
Birdsong runs at the Birmingham Rep until Saturday, February 1. Click here for times, tickets and more information.
