Review of Far From the Madding Crowd at South Mill Arts by Bishop’s Stortford High School student Raphael Tsang

Bishop’s Stortford High School sixth form student Raphael Tsang, who is in Year 13, went to South Mill Arts on March 19 to watch Far From the Madding Crowd

Far From the Madding Crowd was one of the most engaging plays that I have seen. The whole experience felt very clear for such a complex story. Although the play ran for three hours, the masterful and frequent use of scene changing made it consistently stimulating for the audience, including the many younger people within the audience. The setting up of the key relationships was done quickly and purposefully, facilitated by the powerful use of narration.

The production is based on the novel of the same name, written by Thomas Hardy in 1874, which includes themes of love, loyalty, courtship and rejection. It tells the story of Bathsheba Everdene, an attractive young woman who is being courted by three distinct men with distinct personalities: Gabriel Oak, Francis Troy and William Baldwood. Hardy tells us how their lives and their pasts intersect and weave into a web from which none of them can easily escape.

Adapted into a play by Nick Young and Ross Muir (who also plays Baldwood), it stars Abi Casson Thompson as Bathsheba, Joshua Davey as Gabriel Oak, Jaymes Sygrove as Francis Troy and Emily Huxter as Fanny Robin, Francis' former lover, and Liddy Smallbury, Bathsheba's confidant.

Performances were strong throughout the cast. Davey's Gabriel Oak was sincere and empathetic. He anchored the play as a character of kindness and warmth, and Davey's portrayal of him wass excellent as the loyal, well-loved, well-respected, stoic hero.

Muir was equally fine in his role as Boldwood, the richer, older, yet more passionate pursuer of Bathsheba. His advances and overwhelming insistence for Bathsheba's affection were portrayed powerfully.

As the object of their affections, Thompson’s portrayal of Bathsheba was an engaging mixture of confidence, innocence and insecurity. This may be surprising, until you are reminded that her character is, after all, a young woman of barely 20. In the words of Huxter, who plays Bathsheba's confidant Liddy, the story is, at its core, "the journey of a woman who comes into power through no fault of her own". Bathsheba’s character was enhanced by quick asides to let us know what she was thinking, suitably communicating her complex emotions to the audience.

Characters’ emotions and feelings were also evoked through the impressive use of music between each scene change, providing hints of what would happen next and creating a mood of, as one song is named, "Old England". These were folk tunes, played on guitar and accordion, with exquisite playing of the flute by Thompson and compelling vocals by Huxter, complete with a distinct Wessex accent.

Far From the Madding Crowd was a powerful, very well constructed play that tugged at the heartstrings no matter what your age. It was very much in the spirit of the original form of the story, as a magazine serial: enjoyable and easy to get into, yet engaging and thought-provoking.