Birdsong – Aylesbury Waterside Theatre

Writer: Sebastian Faulks

Adaptor: Rachel Wagstaff

Director: Alastair Whatley

Birdsong is a stage adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’s 1993 war novel. This three-hour production is a near-perfect theatrical storm, where all elements converge in dramatic synchronicity. Firstly, a superb script, adapted by Rachel Wagstaff from a top-tier novel, has been refined across several incarnations since the 2010 Trevor Nunn debut. It is performed by an outstanding ensemble cast under the direction of Alastair Whatley, who has a keen grasp of the production’s dramatic rhythms and the ebb and flow of its emotional core. Supporting this is Richard Kent’s abstract, minimalist set design, which fluidly moves from an upper-class drawing room to the claustrophobic, muddy tunnels beneath the industrial killing fields of the First World War. The set, composed of slats and a travelling ceiling, is skilfully lit by lighting designer Jason Taylor who employs subtlety while embracing shadow and darkness to powerful effect. Nothing in this production is done for mere cleverness; everything serves the text. Uniting these elements is a haunting and emotionally charged soundscape by Dominic Bilkey.

The production unfolds in three acts with two intervals. In the first act, we meet the protagonist, Stephen Wraysford, played by James Esler in his professional debut. If this is Esler’s first role, he is an actor to watch, destined for great things. His portrayal of Wraysford is immediately compelling. The Act One Wraysford is energetic, optimistic, and brimming with possibility as he embarks on a passionate love affair with the unhappily married Isabelle Azaire, played by Charlie Russell. She is widely known to theatre audiences as an integral member of The Mischief Theatre Company. Her performance as the abused yet secretly defiant Isabelle is a striking departure from her slapstick roots with Mischief. Isabelle and Wraysford tastefully yet graphically consummate their love before the ceiling literally and metaphorically comes crashing down at the act’s conclusion.

Act Two shifts to the First World War battlefield near the Somme. A visibly aged Officer Wraysford teeters on the edge of madness, plagued by doubt and the unresolved loss of Isabelle. This act features some of the production’s most powerful ensemble scenes. The actors are in constant motion, not as a mere backdrop, but in service of the text. The performances are exceptional across the board, but one standout is Raif Clarke as Tipper, a 15-year-old soldier who has lied about his age to embark on an unimaginably tragic journey. Clarke painfully captures Tipper’s descent from first-day nerves into visceral fear, culminating in a moment of panic that nearly causes the death of his comrades—60 feet below the earth in a coffin-like tunnel. The audience shares in this suffocating tension, thanks to the masterful interplay of the abstract mobile ceiling, which nearly crushes the actors into the floor, and the near-total darkness achieved through Taylor’s lighting design.

The final act, set near the war’s end, resolves the story’s most pressing questions. Wraysford is now a shadow of his former self, desperately seeking answers about Isabelle’s fate. The act builds to a necessarily static yet riveting duologue between Wraysford and Sapper Jack Firebrace, as they remain hopelessly trapped in a collapsed tunnel. Firebrace, portrayed by Max Bowden, delivers a nuanced performance, seamlessly navigating the character’s emotional highs and lows—from company joker to grieving father.

This production exemplifies what raw, stripped-back theatre does best. Sebastian Faulks once said his motivation for writing the novel was: “How far, I wondered, could human beings be driven? Was there no limit to what they could be made to do?” This production captures that very question, forging an intimate connection with the audience and drawing us into its harrowing journey. I urge you to see this outstanding production.

Runs until 15 February 2025 and on tour