Review: Birdsong (UK Tour) at the Milton Keynes Theatre

Birdsong (UK Tour)
Milton Keynes Theatre
Reviewed on Monday 22nd July 2013

Birdsong is a play which is performed with style. Sebastian Faulks's popular WWI novel has been adapted for the stage by Rachel Wagstaff and, despite the show having a successful West End run in 2010, this was my first time seeing the production. Birdsong is not straight forward, the play goes back and forth in time telling the story of a passionate and dangerous love affair between Stephen Wraysford, a young Englishman, and his host’s wife, Isabelle Azaire.

Scenes of lust and passion are contrasted with scenes showing the aftermath of the affair, which sees Stephen leading his men through the carnage of the Battle of the Somme and the sprawling tunnels that lie deep underground. While it is interesting to watch the love affair unfold, a few scenes are not engaging and could quite easily be shortened or simply cut. With a grand running time of two hours and forty minutes, Birdsong is a grueling drama. 

Although none of the cast are awful, few particularly stand out for giving outstanding performances. Ex-Hollyoaks star Sarah Jayne plays Isabelle Azaire. She seems to focus so hard on perfecting her French accent that she forgets to bring any sort of emotional depth to her role. I wanted to like Jonathan Smith as Stephen Wraysford, but I failed to warm to the character. In fact, the entire love affair between Isabelle and Stephen was a little underwhelming and lacked any sort of exciting spark.

Birdsong's unique style proved effective in places. Movement Director Lucie Pankhurst has done a brilliant job of choreographing the movement piece between Isabelle and Stephen as their affair becomes steamy. As the piece continuously jumps back and forth, transitions are hugely important. Some transitions are clever, slick and smooth while others happen a little too suddenly.

Joshua Higgott plays the violin throughout and is accompanied with a recorded piano (also recorded by Joshua). The music makes moments of Birdsong extremely atmospheric while certain scenes, such as the letter scene, are very thought provoking.

Birdsong has moments of greatness meaning it is such a shame that lengthy scenes and underwhelming acting let this production down. Overall the show feels a little stale, almost as if the cast are a little bored and have lost their passion for the piece. It is so important that each performance is treated like a very first show as night after night brand new audience members pay to see the production. The acting did improve greatly as the play reached its heartbreaking climax, but greater consistency is most certainly needed. 

Reviewed by Andrew Tomlins (Editor)

andrew@westendframe.com

Birdsong runs at the Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 27th Jule 2013
Click here to book tickets.

Please visit www.birdsongthetour.com for further information, tour dates and booking details.

Photo Credit: Jack Ladenburg

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