⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – A magical masterpiece
“Different people remember things differently, and you’ll not get any two people to remember anything the same, whether they were there or not.”
So says Old Mrs Hempstock in the stage adaptation of Neil Gaimans ‘The Ocean At The End Of The Lane’, masterfully directed by Katy Rudd.
This is not your average stage play. This is real-world and fantasy. Magical realism is the literary term for it: stories set in realistic worlds but interspersed with fantasy elements that are accepted by the characters as real. Maybe not at first, but eventually. As such, our unnamed protagonist has come home to bury his father. On his way back from the church he stops by the pond he used to play by as a boy, and meets Old Mrs Hempstock (played by Finty Williams) who gruffly greets him, and takes him back to when he was 12 and what happened to make him who he is today.
As a brief framework, The Boy (Keirogilvizioni) lost his mother a year past. He, His father (Trevor Fox) and his sister (Ogden Laurie) are all struggling to come to terms with this, as he befriends Lettie played by Millie Hikasa who is the heart and soul of the show lighting up the stage with her charm and spirit whenever she is part of the scene.
Lettie lives with her grandmother, Old Mrs Hempstock, and mother, Ginny (Kemi-Bo Jacobs), on Hempstock Farm at the end of the lane. The final major player to mention is Charlie Brooks (Eastenders). We’re not going to mention what she gets up to. That would be too much of a spoiler, but her presence is felt hugely when she is on-stage. Watch her closely. Unsurprisingly, she might be up to no good.
It would be terrible of us to spoil the story more than that. Those that know it already will find changes from the book and enjoy the differences. Those that don’t should walk into the theatre blind to what they are about to see. A part of me wishes I didn’t know the story, so I could have experienced it all fresh.
One of the most wonderful things about this adaptation is the stagecraft used. There were audible gasps from the audience as lights, stagehands, actors, and sound combined to make scene after scene confound and amaze in telling the story. I can’t recall ever seeing in another production, some of the things that set designer Fly Davis and Magic and Illusions Director Jamie Harrison (what a job title!) have managed to create and play with to enthral the crowd. It is a magical masterpiece.
The cast combine to tell a beautiful and sentimental story, with an underlying current of loss, fear and hurt.
It would be remiss of us not to mention composer Jherek Bischoff who put together the most gorgeous ethereal and haunting score for the show. I’m listening to it now as I write this review. Think Stranger Things, and you’re well on your way to knowing what it sounds like. If I know Mr Trips he’s already looking up how to get the music on vinyl.
Mr Trips had been looking forward to this production so much. It did not disappoint, and it’s clear that Birmingham agreed, with a standing ovation by many at the end.
In his program notes, Neil talks about how when he first saw the adaptation in a rehearsal he cried, and that when he saw it on press night his wife cried, and he could see tears landing on the notepad of a reviewer. It’s no shame to say that it put tears in my eyes as well. This is a fantastic adaptation of a wonderful book. By the end, you will feel that you, too, have been sailing on the emotional waves of The Ocean At The End Of The Lane.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is at The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, until Saturday 27th May 2023 with tickets starting for £13. Book tickets here: Ocean at the End of the Lane