Review: To Kill a Mockingbird

For a non-professional theatre group such as Epicentre, taking on To Kill a Mockingbird is an ambitious project. It’s extremely well known, it’s long, it requires a substantial cast and while the story is essentially quite a simple one, it carries edgy emotional and dramatic charges that I’m sure have stretched professional companies.

The story should barely need outlining. Its source, Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-winning1960 novel of the same name, was virtually required consumption for the campus crowd in the 60s and 70s and has had a regular presence on secondary English reading lists. The 1962 film adaptation won three Oscars, including the best-actor gong for Gregory Peck in the lead role of Atticus Finch. There have been many stage presentations, mostly based on Christopher Sergal’s 1980 adaptation, which Epicentre has also used.

For the few that might have missed out, Atticus Finch is a Depression-era Deep South lawyer defending the indefensible ... a black man charged with raping a white woman. The only thing surer than his client’s innocence is the jury’s guilty verdict. Through Finch, his children and a small Alabama community, Lee uses the trial and several other constructs to show that a society’s tolerance and compassion — and, ultimately, its worth — are based on the moral compass of its individuals.

So, how did Epicentre’s production stack up on opening night? Pretty well, overall, though there are also things to be learnt and things that can be worked on.

There’s a tendency for lines to be delivered too quickly. This has an effect on comprehension, especially when the players are working their tongues — mostly quite successfully — around the twang of the American South.

There’s also a tendency for some of the cast to resort to yelling rather than speaking loudly when called on to portray anger, disappointment or shock. This not only reinforces the previous problem but also limits the range of intonations and meanings that can be conveyed.

John Harrison is excellent as Atticus Finch. No machine-gun delivery or yelling here ... just calm, absolutely confident and convincing delivery, especially during the pivotal courtroom dramatics.

The same could also be said of Cat Martin in the narratorial role of Miss Maudie and Tim Wardell as the accused Tom Robinson.

But look, the performances overall are strong and all 18 actors should be congratulated.

So, too, should the director, Dino Dimitriadis, who has very successfully managed those 18 into a very cohesive performance that works beautifully on a stage that is almost constantly changing.

And I did like the stage design — the hanging bird cages, the bounty of chairs that somehow seemed to evoke the location so well, and the clever construct of moveable platforms that served so well in roles ranging from verandahs to the judge’s bench.

To Kill a Mockingbird is the second of a quartet of plays that Epicentre is producing this year under the banner of The Human Condition.

The first, The Laramie Project, was also a worthy production. I look forward to seeing the next, equally ambitious, instalment — Bertolt Brecht’s The Life of Galileo.

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