Review: GEORGE ELIOT IN WORDS AND MUSIC, Salisbury Playhouse

What could be more pleasing than an evening of extracts from George Eliot's diaries and novels read by Hermione Norris (Cold Feet, Spooks, The Salt Path) and actor/singer/songwriter SuRie?

Multi-tasking SuRie writes and sings some of the songs, while David Le Page (lead violinist and artistic director of Orchestra of the Swan) arranges, plays and conducts his very able band of musicians.

Headlining Norris and sidekick SuRie steer us through Eliot's life (1819-1880) in an informational and enjoyable speech-and-sound combo way, a clever formula from Hambletts Productions. Hambletts' words and music empire has similarly created shows about Thomas Hardy (with Anton Lesser), Laurie Lee and a wartime marriage in letters.

Chosen texts here throw up themes of fathers, brothers and lovers, with Eliot's fiction mirroring her diary notations. For instance, after we learn that Eliot admired her father's values, there's an accompanying extract about Adam Bede (from the titular novel) explaining that Bede knew the value of a chestnut tree that had fallen.

Equally, we discover that Eliot was separated from her beloved brother Isaac when he was sent to boarding school at the age of eight. A reading from The Mill on the Floss reveals how angry Tom Tulliver is when he finds out his sister Maggie forgot to feed his rabbits while he was away at school – and how life changed for them both.

It's not all doom and gloom, however. Griff House near Nuneaton, where Eliot spent her childhood, is now The Griff Beefeater next to a McDonald's, soft play centre and Warehouse Solutions. Ironically, this reflects Eliot's views on the land being "in constant upheaval and change".

Eliot's determination to be her own person was astonishing. She fights "a holy war" with her father by declaring she can no longer worship at church, and even more scandalously, lives out of wedlock with philosopher and critic George Henry Lewes. She adopts the pen name George Eliot (her real name was Mary Ann Evans) to offer anonymity given her unconventional personal life in disapproving 19th century England.

It all pays off with the likes of Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope and Vincent Van Gogh (in a letter to his brother) voicing admiration for Eliot's work. Any criticisms were cut out of the papers by her caring husband, so she wouldn't see them.

A few minor things put a glitch in the evening, such as inconsistent lighting on Norris and smoke machines going into overdrive. But the excellent orchestra ­– in particular, sassy bass player Claire Whitson, Le Page's evocative violin solos and Alun Darbyshire on the oboe – make up for any small failings. Even if the songs don't always fit all that sympathetically with the words, SuRie's impressive singing is worth the ticket price alone.

We're likely to see more words and music shows from director Judy Reaves and producer David Hamblett at Hamblett's Productions. As long as they don't exhaust the blueprint it should make for admirable entertainment that will keep audiences happy for some time.

Hambletts Productions' current words and music tours run until December 15. The Salisbury International Arts Festival finishes on June 8.

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