A Monster Calls at
The Old Vic
4.5/5 stars
Siobhan Dowd
had already been given a terminal diagnosis when she created the plan for a
novel that would become A Monster Calls.
Though it was Patrick Ness—yet another prolific and sensitive children’s author—who
ultimately wrote the book, Dowd’s influence can still be felt, both in the
novel and now in the stage adaptation at The Old Vic theatre.
In this
play, Connor is a thirteen-year-old boy facing the worst that adolescence has
to offer: a terminally ill mother, an absent father, and school bullies. As
things grow more and more strained for the protagonist, he begins to be visited
in the night by the monstrous incarnation of the yew tree outside his bedroom
window. Yet this monster is perhaps not so monstrous, as he offers Connor
guidance through his trials in the form of three stories. The fourth, we learn,
Connor must tell for himself.
Heart-wrenching,
compassionate, and brutally honest, A
Monster Calls will undoubtedly leave audiences in tears, but it will just
as surely offer comfort and reassurance in the dark hours of grief. This is a
story that pulls no punches, be it in its depictions of growing up or moving
on. And yet that frankness is what it requires. It sings with a truth undiluted
by platitudes.
This
production is plainly no less collaborative than the original story, drawing
from the company’s workshopping as much as from Sally Cookson’s superb directing.
Each actor onstage brings intensity and care to their performance, and thanks
to Dan Canham’s movement design, the blocking and choreography give the
impression more of one complex organism than eleven separate players.
Michael Vale’s
set bolsters this theme of interconnectedness. The ropes that shape the play’s
central yew tree and its various incarnations are also quite literally the ties
that bind these characters. And, though the decision to put the musicians in an
elevated cubby is an odd one, the great expanse of flat white backdrop provides
the perfect canvas on which to project both the young protagonist’s emotional
state and the designs of Dick Straker. The whole effect is quite minimalist,
offering a space for the exploration and soul-searching that come with both
adolescence and grief.
In the
cast, it is difficult to say who does a better job, Stuart Goodwin as the
monster or Matthew Tennyson as Connor. Goodwin brings a raw majesty to his role
as the yew tree. He stands imposing enough on his own two feet, and his
performance truly shines with the addition of stilts and aerial stunt work. His
booming, digitally modulated voice becomes over the top at times, but there are
moments of quiet and gentleness from the monster, and it is these moments where
he is his most convincing. Tennyson, on the other hand, has managed to make
himself smaller than he is. Though the actor is in his mid-twenties, he makes
for a remarkably convincing thirteen-year-old, striking the perfect balance
between teenaged bravado and childhood vulnerability. With breaking voice and
tear-streaked face, he makes the audience ache for him every step of the way.
All in all,
A Monster Calls offers a meaningful two
hours of catharsis, with a twenty-minute intermission in the middle to wipe one’s
eyes a bit in the WC. It finds a sense of equilibrium between modern, experimental
art theatre and classic storytelling, allowing the audience to suspend their disbelief
and enter the world of this boy and the monster who guides him.
-Christy Duprey
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