The Stage

Scarecrow

Published Friday 29 January 2010 at 13:55 by Jon Holliday

Mature actors portraying children can have immediate appeal. The self-conscious awkwardness and naivety, the moods and frustrations, the gestures and posturings, can be convincingly replicated by the observant. However, what makes Chris Cooper’s new play remarkable is the manner in which he has got inside the minds of his created youngsters.

Naomi Doyle and Ralph Bolland in Scarecrow at Llanover Hall, Cardiff Photo: Keith Morris

In this engaging production by Ian Yeoman, ten-year-old Wynne finds refuge from unhappy reality in a derelict cottage hidden away in a Welsh wood. In her secret place she delights in the company of a battered scarecrow, puzzling and fantasising about the outside world, posing those questions adults fail to answer satisfactorily.

When two village children invade her hideaway, the trio find relating to each other just as complex as trying to understand their parents’ attitudes. The dramatic intrusion of a 15-year-old delinquent forces all four to face up to compromises that growing up entails.

The ever-changing feelings of these volatile young ones and their innocent role-playing are handled with touching sensitivity by the cast of four. Olwen Medi is heartbreakingly vulnerable as Wynne, contrasting with awkwardly boyish Arthur of Ralph Bolland and the skittish flirty Bethan of Naomi Doyle. Chris Batten as the tearaway Gaz projects an unpredictable threat.

The evocative setting is designed by Julia Curtis and lit by Nick Johnson Walker, with sound and music by John Hymas and Dan Lawrence. The six-week tour of Scarecrow visits 21 Welsh venues, concluding with a final performance in the company’s base at Llandrindod Drama Centre.