Dennis Potter's play 'Blue Remembered Hills' is a story about the past, the present and the future and follows the lives of a group of seven year old children experimenting through boisterous play to make some sense of the world around them.
The play is set during World War II and the
children are discovered playing in the idyllic setting of the Forest
of Dean on a beautiful summer day in 1943. They play, they taunt and
fight and define relationships with each other by bickering and
bullying to be top dog. There is also a great sense of fun and
hilarity to be had as the children play their games and build complex
friendships. Then in the midst of the play one tragic event changes
the way they look at life forever.
Ruari Murchison and Colin Grenfell's stage design
of an imposing dark grey hill and blank screen onto which the shadows
of trees are cast works well with this version and the potent musical
score (Olly Fox) serves well to add several layers of story telling
enhancement and drama.
Director Pysche Stott believes that Dennis
Potter's play is not only a piece that describes human capability for
brutality, namely, the children’s relationships and the major world
war going on in the adult world, but also about the human capability
for joy, pleasure and wonder. And it is all these attributes that
come alive on the stage with the seven children being played by
adults – the remembered – aspect of the story.
All the cast work brilliantly as a team and the
'child-like' and childish personalities are superbly drawn. This, to
quote Dennis Potter, is “childhood defined as the adult society
writ large without all the conventions and the polite forms which
overlay”. The work on the stage in Blue Remembered Hills at Derby
Theatre has a fluidity and creative freedom and above all boldness
and daring and makes for very fulfilling theatre. It is often
extremely funny with darker undertones.
At the centre of the piece Christopher Price
shines as the cruel and bullying Peter. James Bolt gets the
sympathetic note as the stuttering, cowboy outfit wearing Raymond and
David Nellist is terribly funny as the non- judgemental boy called
Willie who just wants to be loyal and fair to all and is obsessed
with Spitfires.
Tilly Gaunt portrays the sniffy Angela to
perfection, at once vain and childishly superior, her deeper
insecurities are subtly demonstrated though her interpretation.
Joanna Holden as Audrey brings a real sense of tenacity to her
character and is a wonderful comedian. Adrian Grove moves emotionally
as the maltreated Donald who is desperately missing his father and
Phil Cheadle portrays his character with a quiet authority and is
particularly impressive in his scenes standing up to the bullying
Peter. The whole piece has great energy.
The late Dennis Potter wrote 'Children are as
intense in happiness as they are in misery. They live in the moment.
That's the art of living that most adults have lost. Remembering how
to live in the moment and why it might be important to do that as
adults.'
This play is chock full of those important moments
in our lives and an unforgettable evening at Derby Theatre.
Phil Lowe
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