To Kill a Mockingbird

A superb production of a superb adaptation. Sorkin brilliantly preserves the narrative voice of Harper Lee's masterpiece, retaining the language of the original in a way that is shocking to modern ears but highly effective. As in the book, Scout, the daughter of a lawyer hired to defend a Black man falsely accused of raping a white girl, tells the story of the summer's events, though in the play she also has assistance from her brother Jem and their friend. The narrative is interwoven with scenes from the courtroom and around the neighbourhood which immerse us in the mood of a deep South still struggling - 70 years later - with the aftermath of the civil war. Watching this in the aftermath of the weekend's far right demonstration in London was unsettling to say the least. Sorkin brings Mockingbird bang up to date without changing a significant word or detail of the original. The sets are sumptuous, the characterisation superb (especially the family dynamics between the Finches) and the American accents (the downfall of so many productions) so flawless that it was a shock when one of the characters came on afterwards to deliver an appeal for funding in his own voice! Watch if you can!