North and South review – strikes and strife in a factory town

Pitlochry Festival theatre, Port Na CraigRarely has theatre seemed so much part of the public sphere as in this electrifying adaptation of the Elizabeth Gaskell novelThere is a thrilling transition three scenes into this adaptation of the Elizabeth Gaskell novel. So far, it’s been the very picture of a bucolic idyll. We’ve been in Margaret Hale’s beloved childhood home of Helstone, where the pillars that formed the columns of a stately house in the first scene have the suggestion of trees, which are tall, shady and enveloping. Half a dozen community cast members come on to scatter petals that flutter in the breeze. It is languid, laid-back and carefree, like the sweeter moments of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.That’s when it happens. In an instant, the colour scheme switches from spring green to industrial grey, and the trees on Amanda Stoodley’s set become toxic chimneys billowing smoke over the town of Milton, a stand-in for the Manchester of the industrial revolution. The petals filling the air are now fatal strands of cotton, ready to clog every mill worker’s lungs. The community cast has swollen to fill all corners of the stage, the embodiment of urban overpopulation. You’d think you were in a different play. Continue reading…
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