Kes
Kes
Posted: 25 Oct 2009
Kes, Darlington Civic Theatre
Few British movies have endured better than the 1969 film version of A Kestrel for a Knave – but the story of the delinquent misfit who finds meaning in a kestrel hawk demands great care in translation to the stage.
Happily, The Touring Consortium – contracted by the Arts Council – more than meets the challenge in the third national theatre production in the last 18 years.
Writer Lawrence Till and director Nikolai Foster have expertly captured the deprivation of a south Yorkshire mining community that author Barry Hines laid bare on the printed page four decades ago.
All the bleak despair of schoolboy Billy Casper’s existence – a vanished father, an uncaring mother, a bullying elder brother and a self-defeating education system – is skilfully brought into focus.
But Till also expands on the emotionally damaging effects of Billy’s absent father – “’e went away when aa were six” – on the young anti-hero.
Stefan Butler’s memorable portrayal of Billy is a genuine tour de force for one so young, and there is able support from Mike Burnside and Daniel Casey (colleagues of Butler on The Bill), plus Katherine Dow Blyton (Hollyoaks) as Mrs Casper.
Billy, with the aid of a stolen falconry manual, finds solace and direction in raising a fledgling kestrel, with which he forges the bonds he cannot forge with his fellow humans.
There is no live bird on stage – only an artificial dead one, callously slaughtered by brutal brother Judd in revenge for Billy keeping his winning horse-racing bet to buy meat scraps for his beloved Kes.
In a poignant final dream scene, Billy implores the father he scarcely knew to “never let me fall”: but Billy is a victim of society and there is no one to stop his irreversible fall.
Paul Tully
Stars shine again for Sammy By Michael Hamilton Auf Wiedersehen Pet star Tim Healy and his Loose Women wife Denise Welch put their differences behind them to join with a host of North East celebrities at the 2012 Sunday for Sammy concerts - at Newcastle City Hall - to raise money to help nurture local talent. South Shields singing sensation Joe McElderry was the surprise guest and brought both sell-out three-hour shows – a matinee and evening perform...
Bryan Ferry Shepherds Bush O2 Academy 14 December 2011 Google the words ‘Bryan Ferry’ and you’re assaulted from all directions by the word ‘cool’. It’s the adjective that was grafted to his name when he first slinked onto the music scene with Roxy Music in the 1970s and it’s stuck ever since. So you don’t need me to say it (and I won’t) – but I will marvel at how he’s survived at the top of his tree for 40 years without ever seeming as if he’s trading on past ...
Janis Ian Stockton ARC 1 November 2011 Once described as ‘America’s best singer’ by Ella Fitzgerald, Grammy Award winner Janis Ian’s singing is indeed superb but it’s perhaps secondary to her talents as a songwriter. On her own career Ian said: “I wrote my first song when I was 12, had it published at 13, made my first record when I was 14, had a hit at 15 and was a ‘has been’ by the time I was 16.” Now 60, Janis has a firm following of people who have admired her work...
Stars shine again for Sammy By Michael Hamilton Auf Wiedersehen Pet star Tim Healy and his Loose Women wife Denise We...
THEATRE AND MUSICALS 17-18 ShangHi Cirque du Ciel – spectacular with over 30 performers from China Gala Durham 0191 332 40...
