Review: Far From the Madding Crowd - Theatre Royal Windsor

FOR anyone who found Thomas Hardy heavy-going in their schooldays, Theatre Royal Windsor’s latest production of one of Hardy's perennial favourites, Far from the Madding Crowd, offers a second chance to fall under the spell of Hardy’s storytelling.

This adaption by Nick Young and Ross Muir offers the original story but with a much lighter touch with comedy and folk singing by “yokels” to help us all to see the funny side of life in rural Wessex in the 1800s. As Hardy lovers will know, the original novel focuses largely on the beautiful, newly wealthy Bathsheba Everdene whom, it seems, everyone yearns to marry. This inevitably leads to complications and makes for great drama.

The audience on the first night at Windsor found much to laugh about while the folk singers were used to good effect to precis the plot. Ross Muir was outstanding as he played William Boldwood, the constantly unsatisfied suitor. His performance was superb and convincing, as was that of Emily Hunter when playing various maid roles.

Bathsheba and Gabriel Oak were less satisfying in their character roles, for was Bathsheba really so two-faced, so confused? Was Gabriel Oak really so patient and tolerant? Where was the chemistry between the two of them? Certainly not on stage, whereas Jaymes Sygrove as the “bad man” Sergeant Troy exuded sex appeal in spades.

The set was ingenious and worked very well apart from the backdrop which showed fields ready for mowing or maybe a night sky or a snow-filled sky. The problem for the audience was that the screen of the backdrop only ever filled a tiny portion of the stage, making it more of a distraction than a useful addition. As for the bleating sheep at various moments in the play, had no one told the Conn Artists production team that the Thames Valley and other parts of England have sheep by the thousand just waiting to have their bleats recorded - but maybe those bleats were supposed to be part of the comedy?

All that said this Conn Artists production of Far from the Madding Crowd is well worth seeing, for there is much to be enjoyed and laughed about in the first act and even more to be enjoyed in the second more serious act when the actors really blossomed in their roles.

Far from the Madding Crowd continues at the Theatre Royal Windsor until Saturday, March 15.

Bridget Fraser