When a play deals so obviously with the story of pain, deep tragedy and explores the sheer baseness of human nature, one does wonder why we go to the theatre to see it. That could well be the story of this production of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the adaptation of John Boyne’s award-winning novel.
But in every tale, no matter how horrific, there is human kindness and hope. And this is what comes out of this new play, faithfully written by Angus Jackson and produced by a group of organisations – The Children’s Touring Partnership, independent producer Fiery Angel, Chichester Festival Theatre and a consortium of major regional theatres, including The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury.
Any sight of ‘striped pyjamas’ and the yellow star fills people with horror; and so it does in this spare production. The set is simple: a back screen on which is projected the neat chapter headings; a circular moving platform that comes into its own in the second act, and simple furniture.
This ‘fable’ of an unlikely friendship between two boys, Bruno (Finlay Wright-Stephens) and Shmuel (Tom Hibberd) demonstrates how life can deal cruel blows. The former is the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a concentration camp (Out-With), while the latter is imprisoned in it.
Through their forbidden friendship we see the Holocaust through two pairs of innocent eyes; and the terrible fate of millions in the startling and devastating conclusion.
The two young actors were extraordinary in their control; handling their lines and maintaining that matter-of-fact air that marks out the honesty of children. This is a complicated tale of human frailty and what director Joe Murphy draws out so successfully is the good and bad in each of the characters. Bruno’s father isn’t one dimensionally bad; the Lieutenant, so cruel in so many ways, draws sympathy as he faces his next stage of war on the front because his parents have abandoned Germany.
The audience at the Marlowe Theatre – with many, many youngsters, thankfully, was stilled by the intensity of the story-telling which was maintained throughout by the whole cast. A brilliant production; not to be enjoyed, as such, but one that will support English class reading. It is not history but it is an entirely valid ‘entry point’.
Catch it if you can. The tour continues until the end of June.