To Kill a Mockingbird

Synopsis

The place is Maycomb, Alabama in the Great Depression years of the 1930s. Momentous events unfold through the eyes of eight year old Scout Finch, growing up in a close knit neighbourhood with her older brother Jem and their summertime visitor Dill. When their father Atticus Finch, a well respected lawyer, mounts a vigorous and compelling case for the defence of Tom Robinson, a poor black man accused of the rape of a young white girl, an idyllic world of childhood is changed forever. Through the drama of the trial and its aftermath comes a searching examination of freedom, justice, honesty and hypocrisy. A compelling, deeply moving story told with warmth and humour.

Our Review:

26 February 2013

The central theme of Harper Lee’s much loved novel To Kill a Mockingbird is a plea for tolerance; emphasising the need to walk in the shoes of another person. Taking the hint - Christopher Sergel’s adaptation retains the narrative technique of filtering the story thorough the perception of children gradually realising that the world may not be as they’d imagined.

This approach allows director Max Webster to catch the inquisitive, restless spirit of the young central character with a vibrant, breathless atmosphere in the first act. Snow storms are mistaken for the end of the world, the woods are spooky and the shadow of a local recluse is exaggerated and monstrous. The innocence and simple fun of the opening makes the darker emotion of the later scenes all the more powerful as the play switches to a tense courtroom drama. Scout (Shannon Tarbet) tries to cope with her father Atticus Finch (Nigel Cooke), whom she has held in slight disdain, becomi...

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the original hamster - 4 March 2013:

i agree with my fellow screaming hamster,superb...

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