THEATRE REVIEW: Rebecca ★★★★

Rebecca
The Everyman Theatre
24th April 2015

Back in November 2011, I watched a production called 'The Wild Bride'; It was engaging and mesmerizing,and brought to the stage by Kneehigh, probably one of the most compelling theatre companies that I have witnessed, and now I had the chance to witness another of their adaptations, Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, which in short, was just the most enchanting pieces of theatre I have seen in recent times.

The setting was beautifully placed upon the stage, with multipurpose uses, like the interior of Manderley House, the beach, and the chilling cottage. This really helped the action on stage to run smoothly, with even some of the set pieces being used to describe the different locations and times.

The acting was compelling and phenomenal. You could really believe every moment of the characters actions through the actor's movements, and the comedic timings to the production were genius, really giving us some light relief in this otherwise dark story. The chemistry between all the characters were believable, and the use of puppets and tree branch props really made the atmosphere feel complete, which showed clearly that a lot of detail had gone into this production to produce an incredible piece of drama.

I loved how the story was told so simply from the cast for those in the audience, like me, who had not read the book previously. I overheard a few people afterwards mentioning that not all of the story was included, so I will have to now purchase a copy as the action that I saw on stage was so mesmerising that I have to simply find out what happens after.

Overall, Kneehigh have once again not failed in making their current production more compelling than ever before, and I most certainly cannot wait to see what they produce next.