Rufus Norris has once again demonstrated how adept
he can be at directing an ensemble cast on the vast Olivier stage (London Road
being the other great success). Small Island, the stage adaptation by Helen Edmundson of the late lamented Andrea Levy’s wonderful novel, is a
triumph. If you’ve read the book and/or
seen the television version, you will find that this production is every bit as
affecting. And if you haven’t, it doesn’t
matter a jot.
The tale about first-generation
Jamaican immigrants coming to post-war Britain centres around three main
characters, Hortense (Leah Harvey), Queenie
(Aisling Loftus) and Gilbert (Gershwyn Eustache Jnr). Yet again this is a story that largely
concerns the lies people tell, the biggest being that Britain would welcome
with open arms the arrival of their Commonwealth citizens and be thrilled to
utilise their talents. And it’s to Andrea Levy’s credit that rather than
preach she conveys her message about the treatment of these immigrants through the
lives of various individuals.
Act One
introduces us to these characters. Hortense
is a buttoned up young school teacher who has been led to believe that because
her skin is light, her desire to make something of her life will be easy to
realise. As far as she is concerned, marrying
Gilbert, who joins the RAF to help with the war effort in order to help fulfil his
dream of one day becoming a lawyer, will enable her to accomplish her
expectations. Queenie, the daughter of a
Lincolnshire pig farmer leaves the stifling confines of the family farm to go
to London, where she swiftly meets and marries Bernard. So, we have three people with one goal - to
escape to a better life.
The second Act focuses
on the naivety of their ambition.
Hortense soon realises that rather than London’s streets being paved
with gold, she is being asked to live in a tiny, shabby flat with no bathroom
and with a man she hardly knows. Gilbert
in turn has already discovered that the colour of his skin makes him a target
for shocking abuse both physically and verbally. Finally, Queenie sees that not only is
Bernard an extremely cold fish but that the war years have turned him from shy to
aggressive, especially on realising on his eventual return from the war that
his wife has become landlady to a black couple, namely Hortense and Gilbert.
One of the
clever aspects of Norris’s production is how he manages to focus in on the
lives of these characters without losing the scale and scope of Levy’s
novel. Katrina Lindsay’s very clever design enables the large cast to come
and go with ease and the (what’s becoming ubiquitous) large upstage curved
screen on this occasion is definitely necessary to requirements. Jon
Driscoll’s projections of a hurricane show the sharp contrast with England’s
grimness, but the most affecting image is the appearance of the actual
Windrush. That would be enough to bring
a knot to the throat, bearing in mind the scandal we’ve recently lived through,
but behind the screen the cast are seen as silhouettes boarding the ship.
The play is
long, running as it does at over three hours, but so much happens in this pacey
production with humour mixing with sadness, plus a good dose of dancing and singing,
that this is not an issue. It helps, too,
that the acting is spot on. Hortense,
with her primness and sense of entitlement, is not an easy character to relate
to but Leah Harvey embodies her with
a dignity and tenacity which more than makes up for her failings. Gershwyn
Eustache brings vitality and humour
to Gilbert, plus a heavy dose of charisma.
We yearn for Hortense to realise she’s made a good choice of husband and
physically feel sick at the disappointments he has to face and the abuse he
undergoes. Aisling Loftus is perfect at portraying Queenie’s working-class resilience
and quiet determination not to be kowtowed by her sniffy racist neighbours.
I was so
affected by the whole evening that I left the Olivier smarting with anger that any British person could think of
sending any of the Windrush passengers and their families back to the land of
their birth. They went through so much
to settle here, many fought for us during the war and our country wouldn’t be
the same without them.
Congratulations
to Rufus Norris for not only bringing
this wonderful novel to the stage at all, but for doing it right now.
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