A melancholy and moving adaptation of the book by Kazuo Ishiguro – well-worth catching during its Northampton run this week.
Right then, if you haven’t read the book, or watched the film, beware the gentle spoilers ahead. Despite having a one-line synopsis from my 16-year-old daughter who ‘did’ the book for GCSE (“dunno, s’about clones”) I wouldn’t say I knew much more than that before taking our seats.
We’re introduced to our protagonist/narrator Kathy, (an extraordinary performance by Nell Barlow who is hardly ever off stage), a ‘carer’ for newly-admitted surgery patient Philip (Maximus Evans). Only this isn’t a normal hospital and these aren’t sick patients. Philip encourages the kind but buttoned-up Kathy to tell him her story, and we are skillfully transported across three timelines.
Kathy and her best friend Ruth, (Matilda Bailes, who plays the selfish teenager so expertly I was growling at the interval), had attended a privileged but totally secluded liberal arts boarding school called Hailsham. Other, less pleasant schools exist and Hailsham has developed an almost mythical status as their pupils are encouraged to be creative and healthy, but mostly oblivious to what the audience works out quite quickly. And the actions of Hailsham’s staff (Susan Aderin and Emilie Patry) are mysterious.
In fact, in this unsettling sci-fi story that feels ominously closer than we might want to consider, human frailties are offset by technology’s ability to allow some people to live longer and stronger than nature had intended – at the expense of others.
As Kathy reflects on her past, supporting Philip and then others through their ‘donor journey’, there’s a latent sadness about the inevitability of the former pupils’ fate, punctuated by a desperate need for hope.
Kathy’s connection with her childhood oddball friend Tommy (Angus Imrie) is palpable. Her friendships with alumni Hannah (Amelie Abbott), Laura (Princess Khumalo) and Alfie (Tristan Waterson) at once close yet disconnected, are as familiar as our own connections to schoolfriends with shared experiences.
We follow the utterly human patterns of love, joy, fear, longing, deceit, pity and heartbreak as Kathy, Ruth and their childhood friends transition away from school towards their adult fates.
A genuinely expert young cast move along a brilliant adaptation by Suzanne Heathcote (of Killing Eve and soon to be released Thursday Murder Club fame) thanks to the speedy direction of Christopher Hayden (it took me a few goes to notice the last line of each scene transitions straight into the next). Tom Piper’s set is beautiful but simple, and I found myself momentarily distracted from the unsettling ethics of the not so futuristic fantasy playing out by the clean lines of the light wood carpentry and frosted panes.
Barlow’s Kathy, Bailes’ Ruth and Imrie’s Tommy, (a nagging feeling I knew his voice resolved by his previous job on The Archers), are highly commended as the three fractured friends and you’d do well to catch this exciting ensemble on the Northampton stage before it continues on tour.
Never Let Me Go is a Royal & Derngate, Rose Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and Malvern Theatres co-production and runs until Saturday October 26. For tickets click here or call 01604 624811.
