“Of Mice And Men”

When I spotted Bristol Zoo in the acknowledgements section of the programme for ‘Of Mice And Men’, a friend and I started guessing what exactly this would entail. Maybe a few gorillas? Maybe a live elephant? Maybe a dead elephant? When my friend cannily suggested some mice, I thought he’d cracked it. However, we were left slightly deflated when we discovered that Bristol Zoo’s contribution was apparently limited to a few bales of hay. Luckily, this naïve disappointment was the only complaint in what was truly an astonishing production.

As Adam Montgomery-Frost states in the programme, ‘Of Mice And Men’ is “an easy, generous story” that is “simultaneously trenchant and simple”. This was the real power of North Town’s performance: not overcomplicating a simple message, and delivering this message with passion and clarity. One felt that all involved, particularly the main cast members, really believed the words they were speaking, and this added an authenticity to ‘Of Mice And Men’ that seemed to be missing from other productions.

Particular mention must go to Adam Montgomery-Frost and George Greenbury, who played the central parts of Lennie and George with admirable enthusiasm. The character of Lennie is fundamentally removed from Adam’s part as Tevye in this year’s school play ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, and I was very impressed at how he managed to portray such different individuals so convincingly. George was suitably weary and compassionate – and his distant personality made the ending even more shocking, prompting several sharp intakes of breath and the odd shout from the audience.

Undoubtedly the central strength of North Town’s production was the overwhelming acting ability displayed by the entire cast. ‘Of Mice And Men’ was the ‘There Will Be Blood’ of Clifton’s play week: a searing character-driven piece in which every single actor impressed. Jon Pascoe’s Candy deserving a special mention, combining a fiendish sense of humour with a sensitive understanding, and in my opinion he should have claimed the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance.

To complete the picture the beautifully decorated set (with those Bristol Zoo hay bales...) and painted boards of California sunsets provided the perfect setting. Props and special effects were kept to a minimum – probably a good move for such a small-scale production. The only clear difficulty was maintaining an American drawl for the entirety of the play – although all the cast managed very well.

North Town’s ‘Of Mice And Men’ was a superb play, and was probably dealt an undeservingly poor hand when it came to the awards. However, this cannot take away from the excellent performances delivered from the entire cast, who have clearly raised the bar for next year’s hopefuls.