LORD of the FLIES
by William Golding

Adapted for stage by Nigel Williams,
and performed by Pilot Theatre
The Grand Theatre, Lancaster
Wednesday 19 to Friday 21 January 2005

A "Scar that went through Paradise'

It is just over fifty years since the publication of William Golding's (1911 – 1993) enduring tale of conflict and class warfare was first published. And its launch on the literary scene wasn't easy: 21 publishers turned the writer's first novel down before it was finally accepted – and then with the author's first chapter excised. This production, however, restored the missing introduction – a change which has met with approval from Golding's family.

In our times, of course, the novel has traditionally been a standard text for schools. There have been various attempts to dramatise it: the early British film version beats the recent US remake hands down and on all fronts. This latter attempt particularly fails because it updates Golding's clear and sharp prose with Americanisms and contemporary idioms which simply irritate.

Not so with Nigel Williams' version, used for this exciting and moving production. This lets Golding's wonderful prose speak for itself, and leaves the actors do their job. The team of eight young men, aged between 21 and 27, carry out that task with admirable clarity, sensitivity, ability and agility. Every nuance of the class conflict, the social and political tensions within the group comes across clearly and sensitively, and the brutality is powerfully conveyed too.

But the show-stealer was the set for at least one member of the audience we spoke to in the interval. He had a point; a two-part steel and aluminium structure, fashioned as the wrecked wings and a part of the fuselage, was ingeniously and flexibly built. When moved round, sideways, up and down, it was the plane in nosedive, now the forest, now a cliff, now the cave of the ‘beast', and so on. The few other minimal properties were two fires, some hand torches, the conch, the suspended corpse of the parachutist, a few metal spears, Piggy's glasses, the pig (and its head) and – unusually – the characters' clothes, which grew muckier and tattier as the boys' sojourn in purgatory progressed.

The evocative music also made a strong contribution to the performance (for a taster of this, click onto Pilot Theatre's website. The mood and tone of the piece were set right from the beginning, which opened with a plaintive four-part a capella live rendition of ‘Guide me, O thou great redeemer', better known as Cwm Rhondda.

With a variety of effects and moods, Sandy Nuttgens' soundtrack beautifully matched mood, movement and word. Never intrusive, it was actually continuous throughout the whole play, except for the death of Simon ("The Thinker', played by Mitesh Soni).

Of necessity, ensemble playing and character co-ordination are key issues in a text such as this, and the entire cast cannot be faulted here. There was light and shade, fear and humour, rise and fall in pace, mood and tension; climax and bathos as the narrative moved inexorably on. Director Marcus Romer is a very, very able and creative man indeed.

The two main antagonists, choir prefect-turned-fascist dictator Jack and the down-to-earth, workaday Ralph, were played by Alan Park and Andrew Falvey respectively. There was further evidence of sensitive casting and fine playing from the sensible and hapless Piggy (Jesse Inman). Also of note were the choric soliloquies, drawn from Golding's narrative, movingly delivered by Ralph.

I have not read Golding's novel, generally regarded as his masterpiece, since my own schooldays. This striking and sensitive production made me consider afresh many issues – original sin, tribal and community rites, the ethics of war, the relationship between fear and reason – all of which ring out loud and clear even in the twenty-first century. In other words, the book is every bit as relevant as it was in the 1950s – and not just for the reader at school.

Pilot's excellent programme, which came with a free and very informative DVD, was packed full of interesting and intelligent notes about the play. Education is a Pilot passion: some very good learning and education resources can be downloaded free from their website. Other companies and theatres take note!

Productions of the quality, ingenuity and sheer power that this one had, demonstrate beyond doubt that Lord of the Flies is one of the finest pieces of twentieth-century literature we have. Golding won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1983. His citation noted that "his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today'. In 1988 he became Sir William Gerald Golding.

It was a joy, incidentally, to see the house at The Grand Theatre packed with youngsters – again. (See my review of A Midsummer Night's Dream there in 2003.) The powers that be at The Grand are to be congratulated for inviting this first-class Pilot Theatre production, and I am hopeful that this is another step forward for The Grand to attract younger audiences rather than the endless runs of aged tribute bands, passé musicals, faded folk stars and low-brow ham.

It is a shame that they haven't booked Pilot's next touring show, Beautiful Thing, which starts touring from Bolton's Octagon Theatre in March this year. The nearest that comes to Lancaster is The Lowry in Manchester or, indeed, in Bolton itself. In fairness, however, I am looking forward to the return of Chapterhouse Theatre Company to the Lancaster Grand in May with Shakespeare's Macbeth.

So, well done to Pilot for a stunning show, and to The Grand for realising that this kind of venture is the way forward.

Copyright © 23 January 2005 Michael Nunn

Two useful URLs relating to William Golding and his work:
http://www.william-golding.co.uk/
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/wgolding.htm