BWW Reviews: FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD Takes Audiences to Hardy's Rural Wessex

Reviewed Friday 26th July 2013

Thomas Hardy wrote several novels set in the imaginary county of Wessex in the late 1800s, and Far From the Madding Crowd, his fourth novel, was probably the most popular and certainly his first highly successful work. This play is an adaptation, by Mark Healy, for the English Touring Theatre. The story revolves around four main characters and one very important minor character. These are the central character, Bathsheba Everdene, the three men who all seek to marry her: Gabriel Oak, William Boldwood, and Sergeant Troy, and the girl whom Troy was due to marry, Fanny Robin.

Independent Theatre is not a company to shy away from such a complex undertaking as this, with the action set in numerous locations, over a lengthy period of time. Artistic Director, Rob Croser, has adapted a number of major classic works himself for the company, to critical and audience acclaim. This is more grist to his artistic mill and, as always, his attention to detail and thorough understanding of the play is clearly evident.

Gabriel Oak is a shepherd with his own farm when Bathsheba Everdene first meets him, but she rejects his proposal as she does not want to be the property of any man. She leaves the area, when her uncle dies and leaves his farm to her. Gabriel's sheep are driven over a cliff by an inexperienced sheepdog, leaving him penniless, and he roams the countryside looking for work. By chance, he arrives at Bathsheba's farm in time to take charge and put out a fire before it destroys everything. When she realises who he is, she is reluctant to take him on as a shepherd, but does so through a feeling of indebtedness.

She plays a joke on the quiet and shy, but wealthy farmer, William Boldwood, but it backfires and he believes that she is in love with him. He proposes to her, and she considers the possibility, but delays giving him an answer. Meanwhile, Sergeant Francis (Frank) Troy happens to meet her in the street by chance and instantly makes a play for her. Her initial dislike turns to infatuation and she eventually marries him in secret, only to regret it when she finds that he is a gambler who is losing her money. Worse, he is still in love with Fanny Robin, who had been a servant of Bathsheba and whom he was to marry. When Fanny went to the wrong church, and arrived too late at the correct one, he pushed her aside, as his pride had been injured.

Troy and Bathsheba meet Fanny on the road one day, as she is making her way to the workhouse, and Troy sends Bathsheba on ahead while he gives Fanny whatever money he has on him. Fanny just makes it to the workhouse but dies in childbirth, she and the newborn being placed in the same coffin and taken to Bathsheba's home, where Fanny had lived, ready for the funeral. Troy sees what has happened and breaks down, admitting that he loved Fanny and had no love or respect for Bathsheba.

One day Troy goes swimming and is swept out to sea and presumed drowned, although he has been rescued but does not return home. Bathsheba promises to marry Boldwood, but only if he will wait six years, the time required by law for Troy to be officially declared dead. At a Christmas party given by Boldwood, Troy turns up and orders Bathsheba to go home with him. Boldwood shoots him but, instead of being hung, he is committed to an insane asylum.

When Gabriel says he is going to seek his fortune in California, Bathsheba realises that he has always loved her and is her one true friend. Once more, for what seems to be the final time, he proposes, but this time she accepts.

Alicia Zorkovic is wonderful in the role of Bathsheba Everdene, giving a rich characterisation, and having the only really consistent accent of any of the four main principals. In some ways, Bathsheba might be thought of as a strong and independent woman but, in her dealings with men, it is equally as easy to see her as shallow, manipulative, and even callous. Zorkovic takes that ambivalence and uses it to good advantage in her portrayal, rather than just appearing to be nothing more than selfish and self-centred. Zorkovic presents Bathsheba, in many ways, as a spoiled child who continued that way into young adulthood, until the ugly things in the world crashed in on her and forced her to grow up.

Shedrick Yarkpai presents us with a gentle and sensitive Gabriel Oak. Attempting to overcome his own strong accent with another means that he is sometimes hard to understand, and this does affect the audience engagement with his performance. Gabriel is the consistently "nice guy" whom, we are told, always finishes last, and so it seems here, although he does win Bathsheba's hand, in the end. Yarkpai gives us that in his performance but, although we are probably supposed to, it is hard to feel sympathy for his representation of Oak as a rather dull man who stands by helplessly. He does not convey the range of emotions that one might expect. The subtext is missing, and we get little unless lines are being spoken.

Charles Mayer plays William Boldwood as an austere and aloof character, hiding a shyness and awkwardness when in company. Mayer gives a notable performance in the role, journeying from the upright, solid citizen, to a rather too eager and besotted lover, making himself a laughing stock and subject of gossip, to a man losing his mind. Mayer gives a coherent and engaging performance in the role.

Fahad Farooque captures Sergeant Troy's caddish rogue, with a wandering eye, beautifully. Today, he would be the man roaming the bar trying to pick up women with his charm and, failing with one, would move on to the next, and the next, until finally achieving his goal. Farooque brings that to his portrayal of Troy, and makes it clear that he is not after Bathsheba because he loves her, but as a challenge that he must turn into a conquest, the marriage not seen as a new beginning, but as an end to his current life as a soldier and a future as a man made rich by marrying a wealthy woman and claiming her property as his own. All of this comes through in Farooque's carefully crafted performance.

Anna Bampton, as Fanny Robin, is as bright and cheery as any young girl might be with the approaching marriage to the man whom she loves, and equally convincing as she becomes distraught when he casts her aside. She gives a powerful and sensitive portrayal of a greatly changed Fanny later in the work as she struggles to get to the workhouse; weak, hungry, destitute, seriously ill, and about to have her baby.

All of the others in the cast: Alex Daly, Angus Henderson, David Roach, Katrina Bisanju, Madeleine Marin, Nick Wilson, and William Jarman, many doubling and tripling roles, worked hard to create a myriad pastoral characters, each with their own individual identity. They also act as a Greek chorus, making up for large tracts of action that could not be included in a play. Classically trained violinist, William Jarman, provides live music between scenes, numerous folk tunes, and the entire ensemble also gets to sing.

The set design, by Rob Croser and David Roach neatly conveys the many different locations, greatly aided by the excellent lighting of Matthew Marciniak. A structure to one side, giving an upstairs room, and a raked area to the other side, surrounded by steps, is all that it takes for these inventive men to convey barracks, houses, fields, and every other location. A sky scene up stage changes colour to indicate the time of day, the weather, and even reflect the red glow of the fire in the haystack. The costuming must also be mentioned and it is a credit to the team of Julie Dillon, Sandra Davis, Susie Xu and Angela Doherty who were responsible for making it all look authentic.

This is another in a long string of high quality productions from Independent Theatre and will, no doubt, please all of the regular patrons and add many new fans.

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