The Go Between – West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds

Based on the novel by LP Hartley

Music: Richard Taylor

Book: David Wood

Director: Roger Haines

Reviewer: Audrey Pointer

The Public Reviews Rating:

“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” Thus begins Leslie Poles Hartley’s nostalgic novel ‘The Go-Between’, written in 1953 and set in the Summer of 1900. The book was famously adapted into a film starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates, with a screenplay by none other than Harold Pinter. It went on to win the Palme d’Or at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival.

This production sees the West Yorkshire Playhouse collaborating with Derby LIVE! and the Royal & Derngate in Northampton to bring to the stage the world premiere of a new musical interpretation. It tells the story of a young Norfolk lad acting as a messenger between two adults, separated by class and social standing yet drawn together by sexual desire. The boy is a go-between principally for Marian (Sophie Bould) – who is due to marry Viscount Trimingham (Stephen Carlile) – and local farmer Ted (Stuart Ward). We are in similar territory to ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’, though the content is more sensitively handled and is told from the boy’s perspective.

Although the messages are described as “business” to the innocent Leo (played wonderfully by a young Jake Abbott), he soon discovers that they are love letters leading to secret liaisons between the two. An interweaving narrative element is provided by the character of Colston, who is Leo as an adult, played by James Staddon. Indeed, a great deal of the action is about Colston endeavouring to deal with memories of the events depicted and put them into some sort of order to silence the ghosts of the past which haunt him. He embodies this turmoil, with reference to the diary he kept at the time. The way all of this is mixed together is nothing short of a triumph and the imagery of the work is strong throughout.

The set is a room representing several spaces. In one corner sits musical director Jonathan Gill, behind a grand piano. He ably supplies the only accompaniment, a score of subtlety and refinement which supports the action rather than ever dominating it. Nine doorways are cut into the three walls of the room, which are angled one way while the floor is angled in the opposite direction, giving a sense of dislocation and fracture. This is ideal for the dramatic purposes of the piece. A trunk, centre stage, and several chairs, are the main additional set elements upon and over which the cast sit, stand and flow with a litheness that approaches dance. Even the piano is used as a prop under which Leo scrambles and hides.

The physical action of the work is choreographed with great skill, so that one scene flows seamlessly into another. Care is taken too to present the action face on to the audience, even where characters in different parts of the stage should really be facing each other. This device and the use of slow-motion, tableaux and other theatrical and cinematic devices serve the work well. The costume, accurate for the period, is something of a feature of the work, not least as Leo has been despatched to the grand house of the Maudsleys in Winter attire, a fact which is soon attended to by Marian, to whom Leo will form a special infatuated attachment. The lighting is always important in this play of ever-changing moods, and works in sync with the action to deliver spaces lit appropriately for the emotional tone of each scene.

A great deal is asked of young Harrogate actor Jake Abbott – who is the linchpin of the whole enterprise – and he delivers with style. Jake weaves his way through the complex action without putting a foot wrong and even endures being briefly locked in the trunk. James Staddon, as Colston (Leo’s older self and his constant companion), is also commendable. Indeed, the standard of acting and singing on display is of a very high order throughout. The music is not Lloyd Webber, but that is not meant as a criticism. Rather, it leans towards operetta and even Benjamin Britten, without ever quite having the emotional impact of Peter Grimes, for example, a work with which it has some similarities.

This is an impressive piece of musical theatre, being classy in design and execution. There is not quite enough drama in the source material to allow the work to deliver a knockout punch to the senses, but it certainly gets close at times. Well worth a view.