Scene1+

21 October 2024

It’s summer, 1943. A group of children play in the West Country hills, fields and woods of the Forest of Dean; with no adults around, they indulge in spontaneous games and rough-and-tumble. As typical of a child’s schema, sometimes their play echoes the distant war, at other times more domestic situations, personal insecurities and petty vindictiveness; but as they tease, daydream and fight, their innocence is about to be destroyed forever… Set during World War 2, Dennis Potter’s dark comic-drama Blue Remembered Hills encapsulates (through adults playing children) a world of innocence that comes tumbling down in the most traumatic of circumstances.

This is an ambitious production as regards performances, with the aim that the audience accepts the adult actors as their seven-year-old counterparts, rather than seeing adults pretending to be children. In his programme notes, Director Ian Wilson reflects on how Potter’s choice of using adults to portray children “adds depth and complexity to the characters” and how “Blue Remembered Hills is a masterful piece of storytelling… and I hope that this production does justice to it.” Rest assured… it does!

The scene is set from the moment you walk into the intimate Maskers Studio, with a deceptively simple woodland and barn set, accompanied by appropriate 1940s pre-show music, leafy evening lighting, and atmospheric and directional sound effects announcing the start of the play. Costumes and props add authenticity to the overall appearance.

However, the aesthetics and effects would be meaningless without the quality of performances. It is virtually impossible to single out individual performances from such a strong, committed ensemble production. All portrayed convincing characterizations, with unrestrained enthusiasm, energy and at times unthinking cruelty of young children, along with frequently emotional vulnerability, managing to achieve that fine line between young children’s inability to sit still for more than five seconds without falling into the trap of overdoing this.

However, special mention must go to Jez Minns for his haunting portrayal of the group’s victim, Donald, as his character strove to be accepted by the group, and his agony over his missing father, presumed a POW under the Japanese, was palpable.

Emma Kirkpatrick is first-rate as feisty tomboy Audrey, while Iain Shaw combines sharp pace of both dialogue and action with perfectly capturing the essence of cowardly schoolboy bully, Peter. Marie McDade (Angela) is excellent with the childish tantrums and physicality of a restless child as she played ‘house’ with her ‘Babby’, and the exchanges between McDade and Minns as they play ‘Mummy and Daddy’ is spot on. Paul Baker (Willie) is impressive as he embodies that young boy, fascinated by the RAF, in mannerisms, enthusiasm, energy levels and physicality, while Duncan Randall (challenger John) and William Baggs (as his younger, stuttering brother, Raymond) portray their characters with gusto and contemplation respectively, adding genuineness as they allow their inner child to shine through.

First class direction ensures that the production moves along with all the frenetic pace exuded by excited children, with occasional perfectly timed pauses, and strong and consistent West Country accents, while the dynamics and pace ramps up to the dramatic and heartbreaking climax to the play (no spoilers…).

This production is funny, nostalgic and most poignant in places, deftly reflecting how children are not always so innocent; they can be cruel and spiteful individuals when jostling for positions of power within a group, and yet they are also emotional sponges who soak up circumstances and experiences around them, both good and bad, reflecting them back in their words and deeds.

Blue Remembered Hills is a short play, running at just over an hour without an interval, but it is a memorable, very powerful piece of drama and definitely worth seeing, especially when performed as brilliantly as it is here. 

- Anne Waggott