Lord of the Flies – Leeds Playhouse

If ever a classic 20th century novel was ripe for a reinvention, then it is Lord of the Flies and Amy Leach’s powerful reimagining set in the now offers new depth to a text beloved by generations of schoolchildren.

William Goldman set loose a bunch of white posh school kids who crash on a desert island fleeing a conflict, but free of adult supervision they soon descend into a collective feral madness. We live in a different world seventy years on, so Leach has rightly brought together a young cast of boys, girls and children with disabilities from different backgrounds to interrogate how quickly societal norms can collapse, and how children target perceived weakness and otherness.

The adaptation by Nigel Williams keeps all the familiar parts of the novel, like the conch that confers power on speakers, but moves away from a bunch of privileged poshos going mad, allowing a new class element to creep in. On an impressive professional debut Patrick Deenen is unrelentingly awful as wannabe dictator Jack, who seems affronted he is on a desert island with the plebs when he should be joining the Bullingdon Club.  His dripping contempt for Jason Connor’s sensible working class Piggy with his flat vowels poisons the whole group, backed by Jason Battersby as the dangerously unstable lickspittle Roger egging the group to ever greater excesses.

Standing in their way is Sade Malone’s elected leader Ralph who tries their best to keep the group sane as they give into bloodlust and fears of a monster that haunts their collective subconscious. Malone is outstanding as someone out of their depth, but trying to do the right thing, as Leach subtly moves from the group’s initial unity to what happens when a bully backed by cowards seizes power, which is an idea that’s really pertinent.

Many of the cast are making their professional stage debuts, but the experienced Leach, who really knows this space, keeps the energy high during an unusually long first half as they rampage round a suitably off kilter monochrome set by Max Johns dominated by huge palm trees. Leach pulls no punches in this production, really pushing the young cast way past their comfort zones, and the physicality and brutality they bring to the cleverly staged murder of Adam Fenton’s raw and vulnerable Simon would have challenged far more experienced performers.

As you watch the bloodlust of Jack’s pathetic bunch of hunters running round covered in the blood of a slain pig you can’t but help think of a mob storming the Capitol building In Washington, or the groupthink that allows a Stalinist thug to wage a pointless war on our continent.

This visceral and intelligent retelling of one of the greatest novels of the last century will attract many school parties, with some of them departing having fallen in love with the live experience, and for the rest of us it’s a chance to ponder the complexities of the human soul as acted out by gang of teenagers, which we all were once.

Lord of the Flies is in Quarry theatre, Leeds Playhouse until 8th April. Book online at www.leedsplayhouse.org.uk or 0113 213 7700.

Reviewer: Paul Clarke

Reviewed: 23rd March 2023

North West End UK Rating: ★★★★