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| Amanda Abbington and the children in God Bless the Child |
The Royal Court have done it this time. This play models theatre that is exiting, dynamic and thoughtful. This play is about a primary school class testing a new scheme of learning and a revolution which occurs within the class room. After coming out of Hope on Saturday, I bought the playtext of this play and was instantly amazed by it. Over that weekend, I re- read it four times and then finally managed to grab a ticket for the show on Tuesday. Walking into the theatre was like walking back into primary school.The set wasn't a set. It was a classroom with children playing about and behaving exactly as we behaved 'back in the day'. Then when the action begins, you are totally hooked. Performance wise, everyone is superb. The child cast I saw was the one where Louie was a girl but the idea of having the lead child being played both by a girl and a boy is a superb casting decision. Their stamina is impressive and the fact that they are maintaining such high energy performances this late on in the run is impressive. As far as the adult cast is concerned, Amanda Abbington puts in a performance which is far superior to her boyfriends attempt at Richard III. Ony Uhiara as Ms Newsome reminds me of many of the better primary school teachers I once had and Nikki Amuka- Bird is perfect at showing the conflicted Ms Evitt. Hesmondhalgh is wonderful too as the kind Mrs Bradley. Original plays such as these ought to be replacing durge, such as The Mousetrap, on the west end in order to show off to the world what our country's talent can do.
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