To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) is arguably the most important book of all time. Its exploration of racism in the American South has had a profound effect on generation after generation, offering an insight into a complex range of social issues including class, race, morality, justice, and individualism. Yet recently it has become topical for all of the wrong reasons, after its removal from the GCSE curriculum on the insistence of education secretary Michael Gove that students study more British literature. This jingoistic attitude to education is divisive and completely misses the purpose of reading, which is, to quote the heroic Atticus Finch, to show that “[y]ou never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”  

Christopher Sergel, who has adapted the novel for stage, has climbed “inside the skin” of a generation of readers and celebrated this wonderful novel by making it the ‘star’ of the show. It begins with the actors walking through the stalls and down onto the front of the stage, with books in hand. They then start to read before slipping into clothes and acting out various scenes. It was a clever device that worked really well and had me enthralled from the beginning. At the very end of the play, and I’m giving nothing away by sharing this, the actors hold their copies of the book out above their heads, like they are torches of freedom. It is a fitting tribute to an incredible story that left me with goosepimples and on occasion, a tear.   

The director wisely opted for a sparse set which included a tree to the right of stage and a few moveable props, such as seats and fence. This worked really well, mainly because it enabled the audience to focus on the power of the text. The acting was generally excellent throughout and the young actors playing Scout, Jem and Dill deserve particular praise, especially Ava Potter, as this was her professional theatre debut. Her Southern accent was superb, which is more than can be said for the seasoned professional Jamie Kenna, who sounded a little Australian on occasion.