Grief often makes for the best coming-of-age entertainment, and the National Theatre’s stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2013 novel The Ocean At The End Of The Lane is no exception. An audio and visual treat for the senses, the play opens at the point where its main character, simply known as Boy and played alternately by Kier Ogilvy and Daniel Cornish, has recently buried his father.
A flashback then takes us to the 1980s, when the family’s lodger has committed suicide in the father’s car, and behind all of this, the family is mourning the loss of a mother. Death stalks this play, and it’s how magic both positive and negative gets in. Boy meets three generations of mystical women from the Hempstock family: new friend Lettie, plus her mother and grandmother. They must fight Ursula Monkton / Skarthatch Of The Keep – a monster whose human form is played by Charlie Brooks – from inhabiting their world and taking over Boy’s family.
From the impressive way the play transitions from present day to 80s flashback, I was hooked. There are so many genres of theatre-making that need to be name-checked for this show. Fly Davis’ set design, Samuel Wyler’s costume and puppet design and Steven Hogget as movement director have done amazing works. For me, the lighting and sound of this show are standout and gorgeous, sometimes cinematic (American composer Jherek Bischoff’s synths evoking 80s fantasy-horror, recalling the amazing German show Dark – and ramping up the tension) but always rooted in theatre, some of the best I’ve heard/seen in a play.
The cast is fantastic. Brooks is best known as a different kind of monster, Janine Butcher in EastEnders, but as Ursula/Skarthach she banishes thoughts of her campy soap villain. Her turn as Ursula is like an evil Marilyn Monroe, and her scenes where she terrorises Boy in his home are some of the best theatre tricks in the play, and make for its most sinister scenes. Finty Williams, daughter of acting royalty, is the ageing magical matriarch here: though certainly an actor in her own right, she really has her mother’s theatrical voice.
The Ocean… is a terrifying, magical theatrical experience, evoking some of the best 80s fantasies. A story that features death but reminds its main character of how important it is to live and play, it’s a stunning theatrical spectacle.
The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Tue 30 May
On until Sat 3 June. Tickets: £17.50-£54. Info: here
words CHRIS WILLIAMS
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