The Stage

And A Nightingale Sang

Published Monday 8 February 2010 at 10:55 by Neil Bonner

All too often, family dramas set in wartime Britain overdo the tragedy or the never say die Blitz spirit, or both. How refreshing, then, to have a reworking of CP Taylor’s bittersweet story of family life on Tyneside during the Second World War that is free of overt sentimentality.

Under the careful direction of Sarah Punshon, the family members at the centre of this play are allowed to tell their collective and individual stories in a down to earth and often hilarious way. They suffer uncertainty and hardships while trying to get on with their lives. And yet, amid the laughter, the painfulness of war still ebbs through in every line.

The New Vic has joined forces with the Oldham Coliseum for this production and it is clearly a successful marriage. Laura Norton has the immense job of not only playing the part of crippled daughter Helen but simultaneously narrating - a task in which she succeeds admirably.

The rest of the cast is well up to the mark, too. Katherine Dow Blyton makes a fine god-fearing matriarch Peggy, opposite Simeon Truby as her piano-playing husband George, while Ged McKenna generates most of the laughs as mischievous grandad Andie.

As an added bonus, the cast perform some of the best-loved songs of the period, including The White Cliffs of Dover and, as you might expect, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square. All in all, an honest-to-goodness musical play that tells an engaging story in a most satisfying manner.