CityLife

Preview: Kes - Oldham Coliseum

Kes

Oldham Coliseum - until September 25, 2010.

Taking flight at the Oldham Coliseum, and opening their new autumn/winter season, is their version of Lawrence Till’s adaptation of the modern classic Kes.

Bullied at school and abused at home, Yorkshire schoolboy Billy Casper is neglected and misunderstood. Failed by society and detached from the world around him Billy finds solace in the unlikely source of a kestrel chick, Kes.

Nurturing Kes provides an escape from the mundane reality of life and allows Billy to discover his true identity. As the relationship grows, so does Billy’s spirit and he soon uncovers a whole new world, as well as a peace and purpose to life which others around him cannot begin to understand. But will his happiness last?

For the production, director Kevin Shaw will be packing the Coliseum stage with a 10-strong cast accompanied by two teams of 24 local young actors.

Adam Barlow is returning to the theatre to play Billy, having starred as another Billy in The Road To Nab End, which closed their last season at the beginning of July. Paul Barnhill is also returning to Oldham having previously played Mike in The Memory Of Water in May. Paul will be playing Mr Farthing, Billy’s teacher who is impressed with his imagination and skill.

Simeon Truby and Ged McKenna, who both appeared in And A Nightingale Sang earlier this year, will be playing PE teacher Mr Sugden and strict head teacher Mr Gryce respectively. Filling the shoes of another teacher, Mr Crossley, is Antony Bessick, who starred in One For The Road in 2005.

Meriel Scolfield plays Billy’s mother. She was last seen at the theatre playing Rita in the 2005 production of Brassed Off, while Isobel Ford, playing Mrs McDowell, also played Rita in Brassed Off, but this time in the 2008 production.  Christian Foster and James Wooldridge will take the roles of Billy’s school mates, and his abusive brother Jud will be played by Jake Norton, all of whom are new to the Coliseum stage.

The cast will be joined by 48 young people who all made it through an open audition to appear in the production alongside professional actors.

Aged from 11 to 16 years of age, the group will perform in two groups throughout the three-week run.

All in all, it sounds as if director Kevin will have his hands full.

“Well, I suppose you could say so,” he laughs in a brief moment of serenity mid-rehearsal, “but having so many people just brings an energy to the piece, as I know many people found during our run of The Road To Nab End recently.

“The young people have proved very professional once they got the hang of stagecraft and you always sort of know that, as well as bringing a unique energy to the show, they’ll just step up their game as soon as they get in front of a real, live audience, which is always exciting.”

When it came to casting Billy, his lead, and his schoolmates, he says: “It was essential to have actors who look the same age and actors who are going to embrace the fact that this is very much an ensemble cast.”

Although the actors did attend a falconry class, Kevin points out that Barry Hines, who wrote A Kestrel For A Knave (the book on which Kes is based) ‘has always said that the story’s about a boy, not a bird’, and that’s why it works as a play. The audience are compelled to use their imagination, with some help from sound and lights and mime.

“The story is just one of those that will be around forever,” he says. “It’s a wonderful story about the potential of a young person and it’s still used as a set book. Young people really relate to Billy Casper and it also holds a special place in the hearts of very many slightly older people, too.”