REVIEW: Goodnight Mister Tom, People’s Theatre, Newcastle
A favourite story set in wartime has widespread appeal
“Never work with children or animals,” the American actor WC Fields is supposed to have said, but the People’s Theatre never (well, rarely) says never, so here’s a play with both.
That’s if you count Sammy the sheepdog whose able handler Jess Chapman must have had the easiest lines to learn, consisting mainly of whimpers and woofs.
As for the boys playing William Beech, the wartime evacuee at the heart of the story, I can tell you that Nathaniel Campbell-Goodwin put in an admirably confident opening night performance (as I’ve no doubt Dexter White, with whom he shares the role, will do on other nights).
Michelle Magorian’s story about the boy and the man he is billeted with – a bit of a WC Fields character if he was as grumpy as that attributed remark suggests – first appeared as an award-winning novel in 1981.
A film followed in 1998 and this stage adaptation by David Wood, who has turned many children’s books into plays, dates from 2011.
It is directed here by Ellie Pullen who in a programme note suggests the joy in friendship, learning change is not always bad and finding resilience in the face of adversity are the themes that give the story wide appeal.
It centres on the relationship between the timid and undernourished young Londoner who is taken in by elderly widower Tom Oakley, whom he addresses as ‘Mister Tom’, when imminent war prompts the Government to send city children to the countryside.
The play opens with a crocodile of evacuees and William being admitted somewhat grudgingly to the old man’s humble abode where he has lived alone for years with his dog.
But it’s not such a terrible fate, as it turns out. Tom Oakley, as played by Keith Wigham, is more avuncular than intimidating and takes a shine to the lad, especially when his bruises become apparent and his inability to read or write.
Tom lives next to the church (alluded to on hanging panels above a bitty set and with gravestones more Halloween Gothic than country churchyard) and that’s why William has drawn what the ARP man calls “the short straw”.
His mother sent him away with a Bible and stipulated he be entrusted to a Christian household or at least near a place of worship.
Tom’s fictional village has a variety of country characters – the teacher, the shopkeeper, the vicar, the doctor, the young couple (he in RAF uniform) and a bunch of tormenting bumpkin kids all played by grown-ups (the People’s not entirely dismissive of the WC Fields adage).
Then there’s Zach, the young Jewish refugee played with aplomb here by Zac Saleh, whose irrepressible nature pulls William out of his shell.
After gathering in the church to hear war declared, all their lives are changed – but for William the most potent danger comes with a summons from his mother (Emily Jeffrey with stern face).
A story not without sentiment or wartime cliché – Chamberlain’s “no such undertaking has been received”; Churchill’s “fight on the beaches”; and “white cliffs of Dover” in the shelter – nevertheless pulls you in.
The second half is darker than the first but the ending is more uplifting than you dare to hope and the applause from a large audience on opening night was prolonged and heartfelt.
Goodnight Mister Tom runs until Saturday, April 5. Tickets from the People’s Theatre website.