To Kill A Mocking Bird was first published in 1960 and since then has never been out of print. A book about civil rights, Racial Injustice and courage; this story could have ruined author Harper Lee’s career, instead, it did the opposite. To Kill A Mocking Bird is the first of four productions that are to be staged at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park this season, after seeing A Midsummer Nights Dream at the theatre the previous year I had high expectations for this.
The play is very touching, the audience are drawn into the characters and during the trial, really get taken into the events and become the jury. Timothy Sheader directs this production and I must say that he has done a good job of it, combined with the other design aspects of the production it was visually beautiful. He really has put a lot of emphasis on the actual telling of the story, the audience have to bring their imagination and build upon that. He’s got the ensemble to read Scouts Narration from the book which really pulls everything together and reminds you that this story is from a young persons point of view.
Jon Bausor designs the show, starting with a bare stage, expect a tree, the actors literally draw the map of the road where the play takes play on the stage with chalk. Very reminiscent of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time design I thought. One thing I wasn’t loving was the backdrop, just a black background that changed colour. It was very out of place and I kind of wished they could have used their natural surroundin
