Writer: Enid Blyton
Music: Nigel Lilley
Adaptor/Lyrics/Director: Emma Rice
Enid Blyton wrote Malory Towers as a series of six novels between 1946 and 1951 covering six consecutive school years at a private boarding school in Devon, long before JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series or Lawrence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy wrote Heathers the Musical. All three deal with adolescent years, bullying and danger, and the absence of parental guidance. Yet there is a delightful charm and innocence in Blyton’s tale about eight girls sharing a dormitory and Emma Rice’s once again brings her considerable creative skills to the fore in producing her adaption for the stage.
The set and costume design by Lez Brotherston and sound and video design by Simon Baker is a real treat using wonderful projected animated pastel drawings to set the scenes and add drama to the narrative. The evocative moment of time travel from 2026 back to 1947, the train journey from Paddington to Devon, and Bill’s arrival on a horse are beautifully illustrated and take us back to a simpler world, while reminding us that it is just after the end of the Second World War and the horror of that breaks through. It is an interesting decision to have no adults in the play, everything is seen through the young girls’ eyes and the interaction with the Head mistress, Miss Grayling (voiced by Dame Sheila Hancock) is with a shadowy projected figure. To add to the theatricality , when the girls go swimming, Lyndie and Sarah Wright’s puppetry adds to the charm and humour before we see a dramatic turn of events as swimming playtime turns to danger.
The inclusion of a mix of songs, some reworking of traditional songs like Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing” and others written especially for the story add musicality with Stephanie Hockley leading the cast as the French girl Irene on the piano accompanied by Emily Panes on guitar. They do extend the running time, and some feel shoehorned into the narrative, but they do add to the overall feel of the show. Less successful is the extract from Midsummer Night’s Dream toward the end of the show although it does provide a bridge back into the modern day.
At the heart of the show are the performances of the six main schoolgirls, which although a little cartoonish in characterisation are played with such gusto and charm that they delight the largely young audience of girls. Eden Barrie is the nervous shy awkward Mary Lou. Molly Cheesley is the confident joker in the group, Alicia. Robyn Sinclair is enthusiastic but hot-tempered Darrell. Bethany Wooding is the serious Sally. Anna Soden is the spoilt show-off, Gwen. Zoe West is the bold, tomboy Bill who rides her pet horse Thunder. Together we see their friendship develop as they settle into school life by the sea.
The narrative borrows incidents from several of the original books and overall, the plot is a little thin spending time on the relationship changes between the different girls, but Emma Rice has such a creative flair that it holds our attention, we smile and enjoy the performances and are entranced by the staging. It is a perfect show for mothers with daughters under ten and a lovely message of friendship, compassion and hope that is as important today as it was when Enid Blyton first wrote about it.
Runs until 18th July, and then at Alexandra Palace from 22 July to 2 August
