The Farm

Published Friday 2 May 2008 at 18:50 by Pat Ashworth

Richard Benson’s personal account of how his father’s pig farm went out of business provides the raw material for a play that searingly exposes the plight of Britain’s small farmers. Each family member is eager to tell the tale and they engage with the audience eye to eye as they draw each other into the compelling first-person narrative.

There are plenty of issues here, not least the tragedy of farmers driven to suicide, and the inexorable march of acre-gobbling farms in thrall to the supermarkets. But they’re brought to light through a very human story of extreme hardship. Gordon, the South Yorkshire farmer (John Walters) is weathered, resourceful and unsentimental, but when pushed to the limit, even his voice can shake and break.

Maggie Tagney as his resilient wife Pauline displays a bright exterior, a face that visibly moves the audience when it crumples into distress. The couple have their lighter moments and the account of their awkward courtship is endearing. Peter McCamley gives an honest and engaging performance as Richard Benson, Jai Armstrong is the uncommunicative brother Guy, cradling his plate of food as though to ward off attack, and Angie Cape is the supportive daughter Helen.

They seem like the real family, drafted in to play themselves. The squealing pandemonium of a pig chase, the forking of straw and the rustling in the pens provide an authentic soundscape and an upbeat ending verifies that farming is in the blood, even of those who escape to the city. It’s a beautiful and uplifting play.