It’s not every day that you see your imagination augmented by the stage adaptation of a book. Instinct would suggest that it's too limiting. Joel Horwood’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s
What happens onstage is magic - there’s no other way to explain it
Directed by Katy Rudd, The Ocean at the End of the Lane recounts the introduction of magic into reality, as the Boy (Keir Ogilvy) remembers moments of his childhood: meeting Lettie Hempstock (Millie Hikasa) and her family just as the malign spirit Skarthach (Charlie Brooks) wreaks havoc on his family. There’s so much to learn from this show, from what Gaiman has written, it challenges our perspective and leaves us with more questions than answers. Gaiman has a truly magnificent way of crashing realism and surrealism together, and then pointing to the consequences of such an event, but in between he reveals some important truths about human nature and perspectives. The book brings about such intense feelings with every word, and Rudd and Horwood have done a spectacular job of ensuring those same emotions translate to the stage, that we feel the immediacy of Gaiman’s words breaking through the fourth wall.
Gaiman’s words appear truly at home in a theatre, as the magic of his storytelling is brought to life. The technical aspects of the show are pushed to their limits, showing us why we call it ‘theatre magic’. The combination of every aspect recreates the vibrancy of Gaiman’s book, and it works like an enchantment - you can’t look away even if you wanted to. Everything is incredibly precise and immaculate, and what happens onstage is magic - there’s no other way to explain it. There is an otherworldliness that creeps in gradually that is created by the tech; from Jherek Biscoff’s composition, whether it’s the more tribal beat that is set against the Hempstock’s conjuring or the etherealness of the ocean, the music adds a certain richness to these moments, making the action appear more like a personal memory than a play. This is augmented by Paule Constable’s lighting design, which creates deliberate spaces for the characters. It is used to show the difference between the ordinary and extraordinary, and we can see the melding of the two through the use of the lighting. The light traps and confines the cast, creating certain associations that we learn to distrust, before exploding into brighter than life colours, a clever progression that coupled with the sound design and Steven Hoggett’s movement creates moments that leave us in sheer astonishment and wonder.
The cast’s ability to recreate the precision of these moments are amazing, because it does seem like one misstep and it would all fall apart. This is especially true of Brooks’ introduction as Ursula and Hikasa’s banishing spell - it is in these intense moments where their acting mettle is tested that they shine the most. The Hempstocks are the most amusing characters equally due to what they say and how they say it. There is a matter of factness in the delivery of certain lines that creates a strangeness that encourages us to laugh not necessarily in the face of the darkness that the story delved into, but in spite of it
The Ocean at the End of the Lane takes us through the looking glass to the places where dark things lurk, and most importantly, shows us how we can beat them. The boy goes through a crucible in this show, and so do we, discovering facets of ourselves that we may not know exist. This is a breathtaking show that deserves to stick around as long as Old Mrs Hempstock.
