Goodnight Mr Tom is adapted from a children’s book and presented by the Children’s Touring Partnership so I had assumed that it would be best seen in the company of at least one child. Hence, I was a little surprised to find that adults of a certain age outnumbered children in the audience on the first night.
After a bit of research around the storyline at home it had become apparent that both my own children were the wrong age to enjoy the play (one too old and one too young) but no matter, I always have a plan B. Unfortunately however, the plan B child that I wished to borrow from her mother, a young lady who is keen on all things dramatic, turned out to be ill, so I ended up going to the theatre on my own. This was a new experience but it got me out of the house and it was a good excuse to eat ice-cream.
Goodnight Mr Tom is based on the best-selling book by Michelle Magorian and the story has also been adapted into a film. The play travels along at a nice pace and is well designed, especially the costumes and the sound. Lovely subtle colours and attention to detail help the costumes illuminate the minimal set and the sound design in the second half creates some great effects.
I liked Oliver Ford Davies as the grumpy old man and the two young boys playing William and Zach were quite perfect on the night I attended (there are three sets of kids) but I wished that adults had not been cast in some of the children’s roles, I found the adult actors pretending to be kids shrill and contrived especially when they were acting alongside actual children.
This was a minor irritant, there are lots of lovely moments, the jolly singing, the vicar, the eccentric doctor and the character Zach, but the real stars of the show (after the two boys) are the puppets. There is the matter of the dog, which is quite a distraction sitting there on the edge of the stage breathing with its head on its paws as dogs are wont to do and while I didn’t quite forget the presence of the puppeteer on stage, the effect of doggyness in the movements of the puppet was uncanny. Birds and squirrels also made appearances, but too fleetingly.
The second half is suitably dark but there is an assumption I think that the audience will be familiar with the story. Goodnight Mr Tom is a weighty narrative which, condensed into a two hour play necessitates a certain speediness which simply can’t do justice to themes of life, death, grief and love.
There was a good balance of humour and lightness against the more difficult aspects of the story; I noticed a group of children to my left responded to Zach’s explanation of where babies come from with delighted hilarity. In all, I would say it is worth seeing, whether you have a child in tow or not.
Goodnight Mr Tom at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
5th to 9th of April.