To Kill a Mocking Bird, at the Royal Exchange

Last night was a memorable evening. Timing couldn't be better: during the day, I had travelled to and from Oxford to pick Tom up, and it was Jane's birthday, let alone it being Mother's Day today, so we had three reasons to hope for a good night out.

And it certainly was.

Simply the best theatre production I can recall for many a year, ranking as an all time high. The staging was superlative, exploiting the Royal Exchange http://www.royalexchange.co.uk/page.aspx to its fullest. I liked both the dirt yard in the first half, and the court room in the second. The director used music well to help with scene changes.

Amongst several fine performances, I would single out Shannon Tarbet's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_Tarbet portrayal of Scout. Her accent was brilliant, but the way she carried herself, portraying a nine year old (she is 21) and the 'life' she brought to the role, make her one to watch.

The show has left me simply buzzing, so much that I would like to see it again.

Of course, I normally blog about things that I know about, such as [some might say] the duller things in life, but the online reviews are universally the same (and similarly praise Shannon), as shown by the WordCloud below.

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