The Ocean at the End of the Lane @Liverpool Empire reviewed

 

“There’s things that lurk down there” warns old Mrs Hempstock in this National Theatre touring production has rightly garnered much acclaim for its unusual take on folklore and families based on Neil Gaiman’s 2013 novel. This adaptation is from Joel Harwood and is directed by Katy Rudd. She’s not wrong is old Miss H. Over the course of the play the audience will face some scary creatures and even scarier people in a visually stunning slice of theatre.

 

 

The story unfolds just after a family tragedy leads the unnamed son to a cottage inhabited by three generations of women whose motives are unclear though the youngest, a girl called Lettie befriends the boy and shows him the local area. Only things take an odd turn when he appears to unwittingly release a being from another dimension that starts to control the family courtesy of a new lodger named Ursula whose tricks seem unending and very confusing for our protagonist.

Visually the production is a triumph on the notoriously expansive Empire stage which is wider than many provincial theatres yet is easily filled by the material. The production uses a basic set comprising a forest of  trees to frame all the action and does so really well deploying resources so effectively including what at first seem to be stage hands moving furniture on and off end up being a more integral part of the proceedings. Early on the characters seem to be aware of them and this motif is extended as matters develop so they become part of the drama through movement and ultimately puppetry. It’s a clever device and gives the whole thing a fluidity that matches the references to water.

Inventive, often macabre staging conjures disturbing creatures out of handheld theatrical materials. The highly atmospheric results show you don’t always need computer generated effects to achieve something that works so well. These appearances are also unveiled to maximum effect, either sliding into view from a darkened area or suddenly popping up in what seems like the blink of an eye. In the first half the threat is visualized by a puppeteers wrangling a giant insect like being which has such mass and is underscored by excellent sound work that it is quite a shock.

Even better near the end a series of fluid beings called hunger birds moving around in semi darkness provide memorable images being scarier than many a creature you might see in a top end sci-fi show. It’s incredible what movement, cloth, lighting and sound can achieve. Visually this panache extends to other sequences- one involving a character and several doors is real sleight of hand stagecraft that drew gasps from the audience. The sound design utilizes bursts of noise as Lettie dispenses her magic abilities to repel the creatures and there are carefully calibrated musical cues as the narrative takes odd turns. A rich brooding score by Jherek Buschoff knits everything together.

Its a quirky story including some scenes that will briefly shock younger audience members yet with a wit that also lightens the darkness. Along the way questions of who we are, friendship and loyalty are raised as the main character is tested by a being that does not want to go back to where it came from. Though the creature's motivation is simple self-preservation, the story seems to hinge on the sense of identity the boy feels and how a friendship can become more important than family. Just as the `ocean` or pond is something we don’t specifically see it appears to represent the knowledge that children seek or find and how sometimes it can be harmful while other times illuminating. In order to keep his sense of sanity, the boy recites passages from well known stories he knows which provides some defence against the forces unleashed against him. The power of storytelling is important here. The production has to carefully balance being just a thriller with these more serious meanings.

One aspect I wasn’t too sure about is a process old Mrs H uses to `snip` out bad memories so they are forgotten which of course doesn’t happen sadly in real life. What does work superbly for me is the character of Ursula whose initial adult persona becomes increasingly childish as the boy refuses to conform to her rules and stay in the house suggesting that adults never quite lose their childish tendencies. I wonder, too, if there is something being said about the different ways men and women react to things. For reasons that are left unexplained neither of the fathers or husbands of the two Mrs Hempstocks are present or their absence addressed.

There is a (deliberate?) vagueness of detail about all the characters actually which some may find difficult to relate to and which may be explained more fully in the original novel. Yet the tenet of the innocence of children’s’ friendship and loyalty crossed with a darker inevitably realism comes through strongly leaving an ending that is not so easily sewn away. With the pace of feature film packed with incident this is a compelling production well worth seeing if you can.