To Kill A Mockingbird review: ‘Aaron Sorkin adaptation is prestige theatre at its very best’
The acclaimed Broadway show makes its West End debut - and more than lives up to the hype.
By Will Stroude
Words: Simon Button; Images: Marc Brenner
Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s beloved novel To Kill A Mockingbird arrives in London riding a wave of Broadway glory. With Jeff Daniels in the lead, followed by Ed Harris and Greg Kinnear, it played to standing-room-only houses before the pandemic put a temporary end to its blockbusting run, reopening last year as the most successful American play in Broadway history.
It was all but overlooked at the Tony awards, though, winning just one supporting actress award from nine nominations and was beset with controversy when Lee’s estate filed a lawsuit against the production, unhappy at Sorkin’s decision to deviate from the structure of the 1960 book and the 1962 film version. (A settlement was eventually reached and the show went ahead as planned.)
Pamela Nomvete (Calpurnia), Rafe Spall (Atticus Finch)
Did The West Wing and The Social Network scribe make the right decision? Absolutely. Having lawyer Atticus Finch as the central character rather than his daughter Scout dials down the cuteness and amps up the seriousness of a story about racial tensions in 1930s America that sadly still resonates today. Giving voice to the Finch family’s Black maid Calpurnia makes us ponder some of the lawyer’s views. And portioning up the trial of Tom Robinson – in which a Black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman is staunchly defended by Finch – adds dramatic tension to a well-known narrative.
This is still very much To Kill a Mockingbird, except it feels fresh and energised. Finch’s adoring daughter Scout (an engaging Gwyneth Keyworth) narrates the story, as she does in the book and film, but so do his less devoted and more questioning son Jem (Harry Redding, a drama school graduate with great promise) and their new friend Dill (a very funny David Moorst) who serves as the outsider looking in at the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama.
Gwyneth Keyworth (Scout Finch), Harry Redding (Jem Finch), David Moorst (Dill Harris)
As the lawyer himself, Rafe Spall is award-worthy brilliant. His Atticus is less saintly than Gregory Peck in the movie, with a spot-on Southern accent that Peck never even attempted and a wry humour that makes his sudden outbursts of anger all the more powerful. When he berates a prosecutor for constantly calling his client ‘Boy’ his rage is both surprising and justified.
Sorkin’s script is a sharp as you’d expect and this is prestige theatre at its very best. Everything about the production is just right, from the sets and costumes to the lighting and music, and the casting is perfect, with Jude Owusu as a dignified Tom Robinson and Pamela Nomvete’s outspoken Calpurnia rounding out the African-American characters in a way Harper Lee never managed.
Jude Owusu (Tom Robinson), John Hastings (Baliff)
Running at nearly three hours, it’s a long play but Sorkin’s trademark sparky dialogue means the pace never drags and it is ultimately as deeply moving as it is outrage-inducing. The central message about human decency might be a simple one but it rings true now as much as it ever did.
Rating: 5/5
To Kill A Mockingbird is at London’s Gielgud Theatre. For tickets, click here.