Birmingham Rep Theatre – until Saturday 1st February 2025
Reviewed by Nadia Dodd
4****
Sebastian Faulks’ famous, much loved romance and war novel Birdsong has embarked on a UK tour as part of the 30th anniversary of Sebastian’s writing. The well-known story provides the most beautiful descriptions of love, friendship and warfare now adapted for the stage.
The first act opens, with the colours red and green lighting the stage prominently and the sound of twittering birdsong in the background. The story is set in the 1900s and represents the era extremely well, this production feels timeless and modern.
The play told cleverly in three parts across different periods of time and from different character’s viewpoints. The show opens in the years before the war and sets the scene and background of the characters. There is also a crossover between the modern day and history in the past, as an ancestor of one of the main protagonists can be seen looking round various cemeteries in France, to find his relative and find out his story.
His relative’s story is told from the beginning, through the perspective of factory worker and textile manufacturer Stephen Wraysford, played by James Esler, a charmingly intelligent man with a lot of charisma. Whilst working at the Azaire family’s factory, he boards at Rene Azaire’s home, where Rene lives with his wife Isabelle and daughter Lisette.
During the first part of the show, the audience knows that the country is on the brink of war, and that provides the show with pace and anticipation regarding what will happen with the men and women in the future. That sense of speed is intensified when Stephen begins a forbidden romance with his employer’s wife. Not everyone is happy and not everything is as it seems, as the production closes for its first interval.
The second part begins with the introduction of Stephen’s unit and miner Jack Firebrace, played by Max Bowden, digging tunnels in France in 1916. Max’s depiction of Jack Firebrace is fantastic and provides the production with many humorous moments.
The camaraderie between the soldiers and the miners is explored through the main conversations and chants sung by the ensemble. Beautiful moments of reflection are provided through the songs sung by character Brennan, played by James Findlay.
As Max and the boys dig tunnels and trenches close to the River Somme, Stephen, an officer during the war, battles with his feelings of love, anger and abandonment. Friendships are formed as the men lose comrades and go through some horrific times.
As the birds tweet and the clock ticks, the adaptable scenery provides realistic depictions of the war tunnels around the Somme, as well as the living room at the Azaire’s majestic home.
During the final part of the show the relationship between Isabelle, played by Charlie Russell, and her sister Jeanne, played by Natalie Radmall-Quirke, are explored as the war draws to a close and seeks to understand how people have changed since the end of the war. Shocks and surprises dominate the final part of the show as the sisters encounter problems, memories and change.
As the show draws to a close, the modern day part of the timeline is revisited and the audience members learn about the character’s relationships as well as their futures.