BWW Reviews: TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES, New Wimbledon Theatre Studio, September 4 2014

Soon after impecunious boozer John Durbeyfield is told that he is the last of the noble line of D'Urbervilles, a family who arrived with William in 1066, his virtuous teenage daughter, Tess, is sent to the big house to claim kinship (and money) from the current claimants to the name. Alec D'Urberville, a man who indulges his pleasures with no thought to consequences, takes a shine to Tess, before taking Tess and leaving Tess no longer a virgin and with a dead baby son unbaptised by a cruel church. Angel Clare, son of a strict Protestant parson, but a man who knows his own mind, falls for farmgirl Tess, rejecting his parents' preferred match with middle class Mercy Chant, but, on their wedding night when both reveal secrets from their past, Angel leaves Tess travelling to darkest Brazil, unable to forgive her "indiscretion". Tess, distraught at her rejection and with her family starving, has a difficult decision to make, when Alec D'Urberville comes back into her life, claiming to be a reformed character.

Alex Loveless has written the book, music and lyrics for Stepping Out Theatre's always ambitious, occasionally thrilling, sometimes confusing adaptation of Thomas Hardy's epic novel of hypocrisy in the shires - and he comes very close to pulling it off! Wisely, the production is almost entirely sung-through - since emotions run hot from beginning to end, there's barely room for anything less than the heightened impact of song. Including reprises, there are 34 numbers in the show, inevitable varying in quality. That said, the best - the rural idyll of Children of the Earth; the selfishness of Alec's Forbidden Fruit, tempting Tess with strawberries and the promise of a better life; and the milkmaids' clever and funny plea to Angel, Will You Marry Me - are superbly conceived and realised.

As ever, musical theatre demands much of its performers. Jessica Daley, if not quite so very young as the novel's Tess, sings beautifully and captures the hideous dilemmas the mores of the time forces upon her. Martin Neely comes close to twirling his moustache in true Victorian villain style, but convinced me sufficiently for me to wonder if the audience would boo him at the curtain. Nick Hayes looked angelic as Angel and carried off his remorse on his return from Brazil perfectly. If the three principals held the story together, they received excellent support from colleagues required to sing, dance, act and play instruments. Special mention should go to Emma Harold, Sarah Kate Howarth and Jessica Millward, whose talents will ensure that they will not be in ensembles for long.

Though there is so much to admire in this production, its desire to pack in the novel's sprawling plot does make for some moments of confusion as you work out who is doing what to whom and why. It also means that some major scenes (Tess's seduction with the strawberries, Angel and Tess's burgeoning romance and Tess's reckoning with Alec) come and go a liitle too quickly, for all their theatrical technical excellence.

To dwell too long on flaws would be unfair, as the sheer value for money - live music, singing close up without mics, the highs and lows resulting from the fusion of the Victorian Novel and Musical Theatre - is remarkable. It may not quite be Les Mis, but it's not so very far away, and that's thrilling enough for me!

Tess of the D'Urbervilles continues at New Wimbledon Theatre Studio until 27 September.

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