John Steinbeck
Bolton Octagon, Derby Theatre, Hull Truck Theatre, Theatre by the Lake
Bolton Octagon
March 26-April 12, 2025; 2hrs 25mins
William Young and Liam King - Lennie and George in Of Mice and Men at Bolton Octagon. Luke Richards pays Lennie at some performances. All pics: Graeme Braidwood or Pamela Raith.
It seems prescient that this seminal book was removed from the curriculum in Wales in 2023. With the current rush to cut benefits from people with disabilities, would those responsible really want everyone to see how they live?
With its emphasis on how the less-able, the blind, or those with learning difficulties, play out their lives, Of Mice and Men at Bolton Octagon allows audiences to empathise with the affected. It is played with love and affection, but makes it easier to see how those directly hit might feel. Director Sarah Brigham has cast a range of people with diverse needs and lived experience. In some hands this would be a tedious business, with the audience forced to undergo the director’s obsession. But here it works beautifully. From the casting of William Young as the tender-hearted but over-powerful Lennie, to the blind Ben Wilson as Candy, she has drawn performances that fill the stage with real people. Using a puppeteer to work Candy’s old dog is a masterstroke.
At the centre of the play is the possibility of a different world for the characters. It is no coincidence that the Wizard of Oz was written around the same time. The three main characters, Liam King (George), Lennie and Candy, have a powerful scene, superbly directed, in which they conjure the future. Unfortunately, as the play's Robert Burns-drawn title suggests: the best-laid plans of mice and men often still go wrong...
Other members of the cast help to conjure a solid picture of the time and place. Laurence Pears, as Slim, is a natural leader with an ease that promotes respect, and there is special praise for John Elkington (Boss), who due to cast illness played Whit with a crib sheet, his professionalism ensuring many didn't realise he was reading his lines.
At the heart of the play, of course, is the relationship between George, a bright but untutored man, and Lennie, a large, strong and lovable man of limited mental capacity. If this stage relationship has chemistry, the play succeeds. From the early stages, with an unrolled bundle on a bare stage, through the torment of a mauled puppy, to the final trauma, the Octagon audience was totally enthralled by the pairing of William Young and Liam King.
Congratulations to the Octagon for a stunning take on a classic play.
More info and tickets here
