To Kill A Mockingbird Festival Theatre Edinburgh 21st October 2025 Review
To Kill a Mockingbird is at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh this week (Tue 21 to Sat 25 October) and clearly, from the crowds of people out to see this production tonight, Harper Lee’s famous American novel (published 1960) is as popular now as it has ever been.
It is impossible (for me anyhow) to write this review without at least referencing the original novel or the 1962 film adaptation of it starring Gregory Peck as lawyer Atticus Finch, but this stage production is not, like that film, a straight retelling of the novel. Here, adaptor/playwright Aaron Sorkin has taken a work that some people view as a condescending white person’s view of Black Americans’ place in society and legal rights, and enhanced and updated the character of the long-time family maid Calpurnia (Andrea Davy).
This update gives Cal a voice that she has never really had before. The meekness, even docility, of the black population in this story has long raised questions from a more contemporary perspective, but perhaps forgotten in this retrospective look at these times are some hash historical truths. This work is set in the American south, in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama during the great depression years of 1933 to 1935, but there are obvious similarities here with Harper Lee’s own hometown of Monroeville and many other towns across the south. Yes, this heavily segregated and oppressed population is docile, but is this in part due to the fact that they know from bitter experiences how swift and often violent both legal and illegal retribution can be for the slightest step out of their perceived places? These people simply have no one to stand up for them and nowhere to go when times get bad.
As well as the obvious race and legal issues in this courtroom drama, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is also a coming of age story, even if viewed through the eyes and experiences of its white commentators, the children of Atticus Finch, his daughter, the still a tomboy Scout (Anna Munden), his son Jem (Gabriel Scott) and their new friend for the summer, Dill Harris (Dylan Malyn). All three roles allow for some good character performances here, but simply by the way that they are written, Scout and Dill do for me stand out more and Anna Munden and Dylan Malyn make the most of their very contrasting characters when they are both on stage together. The main contrast/conflict of opinions for Jem is with his father, and there are some very good and subtle scenes between both as one realises that the other has grown up, is no longer a child.
There will have been, I suspect, a few people a little disappointed that Richard Coyle was not available tonight to play the lead role of lawyer Atticus Finch but, for me, his replacement, John J O’Hagan got this character just right with his performance. Here, we were given a man who respected everyone around him, saw the good in everyone, and had his very strict moral code of what was right and what was wrong.
There were many good performances here and Aaron Shosanya as Tom Robinson, the man falsely accused of raping a young white woman, needs a special mention. Always polite, some people would say docile, this was a performance of a man who had since childhood been worn down by the social hierarchy that he had been born into. Aaron Shosanya’s Tom Robinson was a man of convictions, a man of pride, but at the end of the day, a man with few rights and options in his life. His courtroom appearances just exude despair and hopelessness. A mention also has to go to his accuser, Mayella Ewell, and so much of what made this character real for me was Evie Hargreaves’ subtle use of body language. Often the unspoken can say far more than words ever can do.
The period feel of this work was augmented by good costume design by Ann Roth and set design by Miriam Buether. At times the shifting of items between sets was a little intrusive but this was a complex story to adapt to the stage and overall everything worked well. Adding much to the atmosphere of this work was music by Adam Guettel.
There are many voices out there that want, for many reasons to them, “To Kill A Mockingbird” to be removed as a book from schools and as a stage work, but silencing history, pretending that things never happened is always for me the wrong way to go. This work still has power in its words, and often those words, those opinions, are shocking, particularly to our contemporary sensibilities, but we owe it to so many people that their voices are still heard today.
Sadly, you only need to look at the internet, switch on your television, or listen to your radio to realise that across the world right now, the issues raised in “To Kill A Mockingbird” have not gone away as so many people are oppressed and marginalised by their societies simply because of who and what they are. “To Kill a Mockingbird”, despite some obvious issues, is still a voice for many people who for many reasons have little or no voice of their own.
Review by Tom King © 2025.
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
It is impossible (for me anyhow) to write this review without at least referencing the original novel or the 1962 film adaptation of it starring Gregory Peck as lawyer Atticus Finch, but this stage production is not, like that film, a straight retelling of the novel. Here, adaptor/playwright Aaron Sorkin has taken a work that some people view as a condescending white person’s view of Black Americans’ place in society and legal rights, and enhanced and updated the character of the long-time family maid Calpurnia (Andrea Davy).
This update gives Cal a voice that she has never really had before. The meekness, even docility, of the black population in this story has long raised questions from a more contemporary perspective, but perhaps forgotten in this retrospective look at these times are some hash historical truths. This work is set in the American south, in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama during the great depression years of 1933 to 1935, but there are obvious similarities here with Harper Lee’s own hometown of Monroeville and many other towns across the south. Yes, this heavily segregated and oppressed population is docile, but is this in part due to the fact that they know from bitter experiences how swift and often violent both legal and illegal retribution can be for the slightest step out of their perceived places? These people simply have no one to stand up for them and nowhere to go when times get bad.
As well as the obvious race and legal issues in this courtroom drama, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is also a coming of age story, even if viewed through the eyes and experiences of its white commentators, the children of Atticus Finch, his daughter, the still a tomboy Scout (Anna Munden), his son Jem (Gabriel Scott) and their new friend for the summer, Dill Harris (Dylan Malyn). All three roles allow for some good character performances here, but simply by the way that they are written, Scout and Dill do for me stand out more and Anna Munden and Dylan Malyn make the most of their very contrasting characters when they are both on stage together. The main contrast/conflict of opinions for Jem is with his father, and there are some very good and subtle scenes between both as one realises that the other has grown up, is no longer a child.
There will have been, I suspect, a few people a little disappointed that Richard Coyle was not available tonight to play the lead role of lawyer Atticus Finch but, for me, his replacement, John J O’Hagan got this character just right with his performance. Here, we were given a man who respected everyone around him, saw the good in everyone, and had his very strict moral code of what was right and what was wrong.
There were many good performances here and Aaron Shosanya as Tom Robinson, the man falsely accused of raping a young white woman, needs a special mention. Always polite, some people would say docile, this was a performance of a man who had since childhood been worn down by the social hierarchy that he had been born into. Aaron Shosanya’s Tom Robinson was a man of convictions, a man of pride, but at the end of the day, a man with few rights and options in his life. His courtroom appearances just exude despair and hopelessness. A mention also has to go to his accuser, Mayella Ewell, and so much of what made this character real for me was Evie Hargreaves’ subtle use of body language. Often the unspoken can say far more than words ever can do.
The period feel of this work was augmented by good costume design by Ann Roth and set design by Miriam Buether. At times the shifting of items between sets was a little intrusive but this was a complex story to adapt to the stage and overall everything worked well. Adding much to the atmosphere of this work was music by Adam Guettel.
There are many voices out there that want, for many reasons to them, “To Kill A Mockingbird” to be removed as a book from schools and as a stage work, but silencing history, pretending that things never happened is always for me the wrong way to go. This work still has power in its words, and often those words, those opinions, are shocking, particularly to our contemporary sensibilities, but we owe it to so many people that their voices are still heard today.
Sadly, you only need to look at the internet, switch on your television, or listen to your radio to realise that across the world right now, the issues raised in “To Kill A Mockingbird” have not gone away as so many people are oppressed and marginalised by their societies simply because of who and what they are. “To Kill a Mockingbird”, despite some obvious issues, is still a voice for many people who for many reasons have little or no voice of their own.
Review by Tom King © 2025.
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com