The Stage

Gone to Earth

Published Monday 24 May 2004 at 15:00 by John Thaxter

Nature worship, callous husbandry and rustic bigotry form a backdrop to Mary Webb’s novel, published during the First World War. But at its heart is a naive country girl’s terrifying surrender to her own secret desires, a child of nature torn between the brutal, fox-hunting squire who rapes and impregnates her and her gentle husband, the doting local minister who longs to protect her from the world and from herself.

The book disappeared from view after Stella Gibbons’ cruel Cold Comfort Farm parody of its genre. But with this Shared Experience adaptation by Helen Edmundson, staged by Nancy Meckler with her flair for physical storytelling, we rediscover a tale that matches Hardy for rural passion.

Sublime casting brings graduate actress Natalia Tena to the tragic central role of Hazel Woodus, fervent abandon always perfectly pitched to the mood of the moment and with an expressive voice to rival Charlotte Church for purity and power. She benefits from Edmundson’s songs, which have the dynamic force of modern opera, contribute wit and irony to the plot and could almost stand as musical achievements in their own right.

Jay Villiers provides a charismatic presence as the squire, glimpsing finer feelings through his base desires, while Simon Wilson plays the minister with quiet manly resolve. Excellent support comes from Amelda Brown as his mother and Michelle Butterley as the squire’s abandoned mistress.

At almost three hours the evening is overlong but this superb entertainment should enjoy a life beyond the end of its present tour.