A Song For Ella Grey

Theatre Peckham • 27 Feb - 2 Mar (then touring)

It was a first-time visit to Theatre Peckham to watch A Song For Ella Grey during the London leg of this impressive touring production. A ‘contemporary retelling of the Orpheus myth’, this new adaptation of David Almond’s award winning book of the same name (which won him The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 2015) has been dramatised for stage by Zoe Cooper and directed by Esther Richardson for the York based Pilot Theatre company who seem well matched to produce this play, given both they and the author are primarily creating work for younger audiences, and whilst that includes young adults I was certainly interested to see if this production about love, loss, friendship and the transition from adolescence into adulthood would be able to hold the interest beyond it’s core demographic to those of a ‘slightly’ older generation.

Things get off to a good start with the deceptively simple yet effective staging, a monochromatic mix of several long flowing white drapes that cascade down from the very high ceiling complimented by some white, multi-levelled soft-shaped raised platforms that stretch across the length of the otherwise black stage. This set design from Verity Quinn wouldn’t have looked out of place had I actually been watching a piece of contemporary dance at Sadlers Wells, and there are interludes throughout the play that come close to being just that, movement director Ayesha Fazal creating some wonderful moments of very elegant choreography that adds a lot to the sense of otherworldliness in the telling of this extraordinary journey that five young friends find themselves unexpectedly embarking on. Things start with one of the friends, Claire, (Olivia Onyehara) immediately breaking the fourth wall to explain to the audience that the end of the story has in fact already happened, a death, and it is the mysterious circumstances leading up to the tragedy of that moment that we are about to watch unfold.

There is so much to like in the way Cooper and Richardson approach this production, having immediately discarded the convention of linear storytelling to successfully create an enhanced undercurrent of unease and foreboding. As well as being privy to the end of the story from the very beginning, all the actors then proceed to fluctuate between being both character and narrator, their separate voices becoming unified as they recollect, as best they can, the mysterious nature of the events they experienced. This unconventional to-and-fro could easily have become more distracting than engaging, but in the hands of this impressive young cast it somehow elevates the action to become even more intriguing, the fast paced vocal riffs delivered in a beat-perfect fashion, enabling the descriptive power of their words (with a little help from Si Cole’s excellent back-projected video design) to colour the black and white set by conjuring up vivid verbal images of their classroom, the coastline, family homes and the canal path the group of friends not only occupy, but through their shared memories seem to also be collectively trapped in.

This sense of being trapped is never stronger than when they meet a mysterious stranger, a seemingly gender fluid musician called Orpheus, who literally becomes a shadowy figure that looms above the five friends, given it’s only their silhouette we see, backlit against the white drapes behind. (Chris Davey’s lighting design impresses both here and throughout the rest of this production) Orpheus beguiles the friends with their music, but none moreso than Ella Grey, (Grace Long), and as Orpheus becomes increasingly more present in the young group’s lives, the more mysterious the figure becomes. None of this stops Ella’s connection to the beguiling musician running much deeper than that of her friends, but it’s a connection that will ultimately lead to Ella’s eventual demise.

If A Song For Ella is typical of the current quality of productions being produced to attract young people to the theatre, then it’s future would seem to be in very good hands given just how innovative, imaginative, brave, moving and emotionally intelligent this production is, especially as it can often be difficult to find something even approaching these level of inventive storytelling on any stage or, for that mater, for any age of audience. Whilst all five actors are perfectly cast in their respective roles, it is Beth Crame when doubling up as Ella’s mother, as well as playing one of the five friends, that is really allowed to shine, not only flip-flopping between the different characters, but equally proficiently between tragedy and comedy.

A Song For Ella Grey is a triumphant example of translating an award winning book into an incredibly spellbinding play.

★★★★★