From the very opening group tableaux of cast characters on stage we are assured of another very high quality main stage play at Derby Theatre in John Steinbeck’s classic, Of Mice and Men. Superbly directed by Sarah Brigham with innovative stage and costume design by Jess Curtis, Steinbeck’s masterpiece lives and breathes the hot dusty air of a farmstead in the mid-west of the USA. There’s danger a brewing on the ranch, in the bunk rooms and out in the fields and Derby Theatre’s cast are perfectly chosen to present all the dramas. Every character is played to perfection. Even Candy’s mangey old dawg.
Tonight’s cast are Jeff Alexander (Crooks), Emma Charlton (Curley’s wife), John Elkington (The Boss), Tom Fletcher (Carlson), Liam King (George), Afton Moran (Whit), Laurence Pears (Slim), Stefan Race (Curley), Benjamin Wilson (Candy) and on press night Wiliam Young plays Lennie. Young shares the role of Lennie with actor Luke Richards in other performances. All of this cast are brilliant and it is interesting to note that director Sarah Brigham has chosen cast members that have lived the experience of their characters, bringing, as she says ‘a fresh light to the interior of the people of the time (1937) which Steinbeck gives us.’ For example Benjamin Wilson is a blind man playing the blind Candy and Wiliam Young playing the vulnerable child-like Lennie trains with Hijinx Theatre in North Wales who offer the only professional performance training for learning disabled actors and or autistic actors. Previously, Young has performed as Lennie in Cardiff and Birmingham Rep and earned himself a nomination for Best Performer In A Play at the UK Theatre Awards.
This Derby Theatre production is created in conjunction with the Octagon Theatre, Hull Truck and Theatre By The Lake.
This smart, finely detailed production of Of Mice and Men is a whip cracking emotional winner on all fronts, pulling on the heartstrings, stretching out the tensions amid a 1930s world rife with racism, ableism, misogyny and sweaty masculinity amongst the heavy bales of hay and the casual farmhands needing to earn a crust. And then, darn it, Curley’s purdy new wife puts the cat amongst the male pigeons with her persistent flirtin’. Feathers sure gonna fly.
The text of the piece is very well handled by the cast who all give fine interpretations of the American accents and credit must be due to Liam King as George for his role and learning a large proportion of the dialogue in a play spanning more than two hours of stage time. Two hours of potential life-changing drama that is well worth the ticket price. Git bookin’ y’all.
Playing at Derby Theatre until Saturday 1st Mar.
Online Schools Guidance Package for Of Mice and Men.
Photos credit: Pamela Raith.
