BWW Reviews: WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND, Union Theatre, January 30 2015

It seems rather a thin premise for a book - children in a Lancashire village mistake a fugitive's curse for a claim to be Jesus Christ and then seek to protect him from another "crucifixion" - but the novella spawned a much-loved film and two adaptations for musical theatre. This one, by Russell Labey and Richard Taylor first staged in 1989, retains the film's eerie quality, enhanced by music that drifts, then soars, then drifts again making the work feel as much an opera as a musical.

The role of Cathy - the first and most fervent believer in the Lancastrian Christ - is the axis on which the whole production turns. Unless we buy completely that this intelligent, damaged, decent child/woman believes in "Jesus" without an inch of cynicism about what that confers on her, the conceit collapses - and with it the plot. That's quite a burden to place on a young actress, but Grace Osborn, pinched of cheek, worrying of brow, carries it off with great skill, enjoying just enough the initial power her secret bestows on her and her siblings (Imelda Warren-Green as earnest Nan and Alex James Ellison as emotional Charles) before her realisation that the stakes are very high indeed and that something must be done. This is an actress with the power to go far.

The Union Theatre's dark space, full of the kind of crannies that one finds in barns, is ideal for creating the two levels of claustrophobia on which the story depends. The village is apparently sealed from outsiders (in the late 50s, there would be few home telephones and even television was a new window on the world); and the children are sealed in their own world by the indifference of adults, who want them to behave like grown-ups without letting them grow up . The teenage revolution, spawned in the USA by Elvis Presley and in London by Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard, had not reached rural Lancashire and these kids have no role models, no heroes, no identities to cling to - other than their determination not to be as cold as their parents (whose own teenage years were scarred by war).

The music, played beautifully by David Griffiths and his musicians, heightens all this emotional turmoil, fleshing out the characters, underlining their emotional progression, convincing us as much as the fine acting and super singing that this all could happen. Only a little fudging of the fate of "Jesus" detracts from a fine example of how musical theatre can delve deep into human psyche and come back with something that illuminates, without purporting to explain, that most mysterious of worlds. This production will enchant young adults, but it will also give their parents something to consider the next time they shush them so they can check their texts for the tenth time that day.

Whistle Down The Wind continues at the Union Theatre until 21 February.

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