I was delighted to be heading back to my Welsh roots for a return visit to Theatr Clwyd to watch the highly anticipated 'Wave Me Goodbye'. I can say hand on heart that I am certainly glad I did! This is a beautiful, heart-warming and emotional adaptation of award-winning and best-selling author Jacqueline Wilson’s moving story of friendship and bravery. 'Wave Me Goodbye' is a really special piece of theatre and with a musical partnership that touches the soul.
It is September 1939, and as the Second World War begins, ten-year-old Shirley, played by the warm and likeable Courtney George is sent away on a train for what is described ‘as a little holiday’. An interesting aspect about this new adaptation is that it has been changed that Shirley goes from Liverpool to North Wales to keep it relevant to the area and a great personal touch! The adaptation is by Emma Reeves who is an already accomplished writer working across the stage and screen. Reeves’ TV credits include The Worst Witch (lead writer), The Dumping Ground, The Story of Tracy Beaker, Doctors and many more. Some of her stage work includes her acclaimed adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s Hetty Feather, Carries War, Little Women and Cool Hand Luke. With this impressive CV, I had high hopes for what this new adaptation would bring. Directing 'Wave Me Goodbye' is Theatr Clwyd Associate, Christian Patterson, Patterson an established actor and writer and with his own impressive CV, uses some very clever direction that helps to create a story that everyone, young and old I believe cannot help but be moved by. There is an obvious emphasis on this being a production specifically aimed at children, and rightly so as it covers many important and well deserving themes around childhood and growing up, but I had no qualms sitting there amongst them all and enjoyed fully immersing myself in the story in my own right. I even let them off their copious crisp munching (personal bugbear but that’s for another day) and got into the spirit of things along with the enthusiastic crowd.
Once entering the studio space you are greeted with a quirky little set, almost like giant play pieces on a board game, and I especially loved the oversized vintage wooden ruler! It is a revolving set and throughout the production, changes and magically transforms into new spaces. Indeed you never quite know where each character will pop up next. There was a lovely surprise within the set during the play which was greeted by breathy gasps amongst the audience. Credit to Amy Jane Cook, who has created a space of magic, surprise and indeed fun!
Along her journey Shirley, a daydreamer and one of the last evacuees to be adopted meets Kevin, played by the very watchable and playful Sean Jones, who, with a little help from a certain someone, also plays Archie in a duel role. They both bump into many big, wonderful, and some not so wonderul characters along the way as they form a firm friendship between themselves. With all the cast bar George playing multiple roles it really made for an exciting watch keeping up with who was who. Credit again to Cook for the ever-changing and true-to-style period costume designs which, down to the shiny red-buckled shoes on Shirley, were a delight to see. With its clever use of lighting and sound, Will Evans and Matthew Williams respectively convey an atmosphere where you felt you were taken on that journey along with Shirley and her new friends. Working together the lighting and sound helped to create moods to convey the many mixed emotions of the piece, including happiness, fun, sadness, hostility..
It’s a wonderfully neat and engaging piece of physical theatre too, credit to Joanne Bernard, which, as movement director helps to keep those young eyes engaged and committed to the story. With quite stylised ‘easy to follow’ acting performances from all the cast members it really was an easy to watch production, especially I can imagine for the younger members of the audience. As for the cast, George was excellent in her role, Shirley is somewhat of a misfit and George, as an adult playing a sometimes misunderstood child certainly handled this aspect very well, you could sympathise with her situation and all the children and adults warmed to her greatly. George also has a scene where she gets to flaunt her exceptional dancing skills, and there is an obvious talent there too.
Jones, who is not averse to performing in a child’s role and having recently finished a long stint playing Mickey in the musical theatre production, Blood Brothers, was definitely in his comfort zone out there playing a believable and likeable but bit of a rascal Kevin, who in one touching scene spoke on a theme that effects many children. Everyone in the audience, including myself were emotionally invested and we all really felt for Kevin! Also, using clever physicality and an extra ‘friend’ Jones plays Kevin’s younger sidekick Archie, and really does take on this duel role with passion and enthusiasm. Having last seen Jones as leading man Macbeth it is to his credit in his versatility as an actor to go from that to this with great ease.
Victoria John and Kerry Peers were also extremely watchable in again multiple roles, of which they played many between them. John showing a great aptitude for playing strong female characters and Peers who was perfectly cast playing ‘out there’ and weirdly quirky eccentric roles. The creative energy between them both had the audience fully engrossed.
Sam C Wilson played a humongous amount of roles, and each one with great aplomb, one of his roles was quite an unlikeable chap and some children were squirming in their seats, though he did not over do this but just established a controlled menacing quality to the character. Definitely an actor to keep a watch out for, who’s getting rather established in the world of screen acting, and who also I was fortunate enough to briefly meet afterwards, has a great rapport and the most amazingly long eyelashes…though I digress.
This was indeed a lovely adaptation by Reeves and of course perfect for a young audience, though I also believe a production very suitable for the older generation to see, having done performance art myself with people who have stories of the war, have faced their own adversities over the years and battled loss I feel this production and story would be particularly beneficial for them to witness and a great conversation starter. I’m going to hand over now to three wonderful mini reviewers who I met at the theatre and with their mums' happiness for them to be included here, wanted to give their own thoughts on 'Wave Me Goodbye'.
“It was very emotional and sad at times. I liked that it didn’t hide any difficult subject matter from children which is always really good.”. Betsi - aged 10
“One part was a bit scary but really important to learn about, the set was good and the actors believable and confident. It touched on themes of war which is really interesting to learn about and I know we’ll chat about it lots in the car home. I loved the music too!” Effi - aged 8
“It was different from what I normally watch, and I could follow the story well. I even enjoyed the scary parts too!” Mai – aged 5
I cannot finish without mentioning the wonderful live musical accompaniment from composer, Musical Director and musician Luke Potter. Potter took us on an emotive musical journey throughout and provided music using many different instruments, including the voice that really helped to stimulate the senses of the story. Finally, I feel 'Wave Me Goodbye' would also transfer well to screen and I can imagine it as a little mini-series that children and adults alike would love.
'Wave Me Goodbye' is on at Theatr Clwyd until 4th May (Some performances may be school bookings only so please check with the Theatre beforehand)
Reviewer - Mary Fogg
on - 27/4/19
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