As the curtain rises on Lawrence Till’s adaptation of ‘Kes’ the audience is immediately transported to the beginning of an overcast day in Barnsley with its backdrop of slag heaps and the commanding framework of the pithead and a steel lattice gantry. The day is Billy Casper’s (played by Stefan Butler), the wretched star of Barry Hines’s 1968 novel and, as it progresses through this powerful play, the story of his life unfolds. 

As day breaks, his relationship with his overbearing and bullying brother, Jud (Oliver Farnworth), becomes apparent. There are scenes of wry humour such as the interplay with his newsagent employer (Mike Burnside) before school, and later in the day with the effete and twitching youth employment officer (Dominic Gately)who is frustrated in his efforts to engender any enthusiasm for work in a disaffected Billy. 

As Billy’s interest in owning and training a kestrel becomes apparent, the wideness of the gulf between his vision, high above the then-thriving Yorkshire coalfields, and the mundane lives being scratched out by his mother (Katherine Dow Blyton) and brother is stark. Rejected by family, the library and his school, Billy turns inward and become more self-contained. The only person able to penetrate the fragile shell Billy has built around himself is a caring and insightful teacher (Daniel Casey) who plainly understands that this fragile young man has been made thus by bullying and an absence of love in his short life. 

The director (Nikolai Foster) has skilfully contrasted some of Billy’s emotionally-charged scenes with others that capture the sometimes frenzied moments when schoolchildren have heated exchanges in the playground. 

compelling
Despite the harsh reality of a family living a hand-to-mouth existence, the focus on a young man, his kestrel and his own world of fantasy and ambition ensures that this compelling production will grip the audience from start to finish. 

Reviewed by David Turner
Reviewed at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre
Reviewed on Tuesday November 17th 2009