Blue Remembered Hills

How rarely an adult observes – really observes – children at play.  To do so is often delightful, and we are tickled and enchanted by their bizarre logic and spontaneity; but we also find social competitiveness and unthinking brutality. In Michaelmas 2009 Lyon House put on Dennis Potter’s Blue Remembered Hills, which showed us this without either sentimentality or the harrowing darkness of Lord of the Flies.  Set in the West Country in 1943, the play put the audience among a group of 7 year-olds playing in the woods in summertime.  The war is more a distant fantasy than imminent reality for most of them, but as the adult destructiveness that it represents becomes more urgent so too do they find themselves shockingly deprived of their innocence.  This was portrayed with humour and feeling by the boys.  Particular mention must go to Oliver Franke and Arthur Fulford who carried off the main parts with intuition and verve, and to Harry Jones and Alex Hole who were brave enough to step into girls’ attire for the two nights of the performance.

Click the IMAGES tab in the mediaplayer above to see photographs of the performance.