The Sprout

Review: Goodnight Mr Tom @ New Theatre

Postiwyd gan emb789 o Caerdydd - Cyhoeddwyd ar 12/05/2011 am 09:02
3 sylwadau » - Tagiwyd fel Diwylliant, Llwyfan

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Yesterday, I had a thoroughly enjoyable day. Straight after school, I met up with a friend of mine and headed into town for a little wander around. We went to a very nice (and incredibly cheap) Italian restaurant called Postiano, and then came the highlight of the evening; going to see Goodnight Mr Tom at the New Theatre, put on by The Children's Touring Partnership, starring Oliver Tritton Wheeler, Max Longmuir and Oliver Ford Davies.

The play began with a young boy, William Beech, being taken in by an older man, Thomas Oakley, or Mr Tom, as he is known to William, as an evacuee from London. The entire first half of the play had an overall pleasant feel to it, set in Dorset, however it felt like there were darker undertones, as it was heavily implied all the way through that William had been abused by his mother. At first, William is an incredibly shy boy, with no friends, and getting bullied by the local children for being a "vaccie". However, when he goes to send a postcard to his mum (written by Mr Tom, as William himself is illiterate), he meets a young boy called Zach, who quickly befriends William and from then on he grows in confidence and becomes an accepted member of the community. Unfortunately, at the end of the first half, William gets summoned back to London by his mother, who has fallen ill.

As I do not wish to spoil the end for anyone, I won't go into details of the second half. Set in London, it has a much darker feel than the first half, with thick fog lying about the place, and everyone rushing around everywhere, not far off from how people in London act today! When William is reunited with his mother, it's not a touching family scene and there is a clear awkwardness between the two of them. The music in the second half is particularly brilliant! The second half was overall very touching, and I will admit, I found myself welling up once or twice (or three or four or five times).

The relationship between William and Zach was quite wonderful, and Zach came out with some brilliant lines that had the whole audience in hysterics. For example, when he first met Mr Tom, he extends his hand and gives his full name, to which Mr Tom replies, "My name is Tom Oakley, and I've never heard of you." Zach then replies, "That's OK, I've never heard of you either!" I have never heard an audience laugh so much at a play before.

After the play had finished and received a very good reception from the audience, I went with my plus one to wait around the back and see if I could grab a few words from the cast members - and as it happened, I did! I asked each character two questions, first, "Did you enjoy doing this performance?" and then, "Do you think tonight's performance went well?" The first person I spoke to was Oliver Ford Davies, who's wide repertoire includes three episodes of Star Wars, Midsomer Murders and King Lear (as King Lear). His answers to my questions were as follows:

"I enjoyed this very much, it's a good part, and it's very moving how the two characters are thrown together and then blossom. It's a very optimistic view of human nature."
"We had a very good audience tonight, with a lot of booking in advance. I'd guess there were about a thousand people tonight."

The next actor we spoke to was Max Longmuir, who played Zach. He's thirteen years old, and has been acting since he was seven. Of the young actors in the play, I'd say he was the best by a long way. His answers to my questions were as follows:

"I did enjoy this, it was a great experience, and it was really fun."
"I think tonight's show went really well, and that so far it has been one of the best of the tour!"

The final actor we spoke to was the star of the show, William himself, played tonight by Oliver Tritton Wheeler, who, according to the programme, was very excited to be working with another "Oliver" in this production! His answers to my questions were as follows:

"This has been so much fun, it's been absolutely amazing."
"I think tonight's performance went really well."

Overall, the play was brilliant and the actors were extremely friendly afterwards. The audience did seem to be very receptive and the woman I was sat next to was blubbing away by the end! This play was extremely good, and I think both Max Longmuir and Oliver Tritton Wheeler have far to go with their acting careers. I wish the best of luck to both of them in their future careers.

Goodnight Mr Tom is at the New Theatre till Saturday. Click here to book tickets.

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