THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
By Ian McEwan, adapted for the stage by Christopher Hampton
Chichester Festival Theatre, Oaklands Park, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 6AP, until June 20, 2026
Adapting a much-loved novel for the stage is often perilous, devotees will be lining up to point out how the play ‘totally misses the metaphysical nuances of the text’ or whatever, and there is the danger, if you have a lot of plot, of ending up with not much more. McEwan therefore entrusted his acclaimed 2001 novel to Christopher Hampton, whose track record, particularly with adaptations, is as impressive as his shelves full of awards. He was Oscar nominated for the 2007 screen version of this, which was a substantial hit. The result here is more of a mixed bag.
Leading the cast are two of the brightest young talents around, Miriam Petche (from TV’s Industry) plays Cecilia and Jasper Talbot plays the central protagonist, Robbie, a chap of working-class origins whose Cambridge education was gifted by the family in the Big House for whom his mother worked. Talbot made a dazzling professional debut here two years ago as Mick Jagger in Redlands and has been on a roll ever since. Both continue to impress here, and both possess star quality.
There was also one sad bit of casting news, as Siân Phillips (still going strong at 93) Siân Phillips has had to step back from her role of older Briony, to be replaced by Jessica Turner. Her monologue towards the end provides the crucial plot twist which crystallises the themes of the piece.
The story chronicles a crime and its consequences over six decades. We begin in an English stately home in the blazing summer of 1935, where 13-year-old Briony Tallis (Isabella Dempster) falsely accuses her sister Cecilia's lover, Robbie, of a rape, resulting in his conviction and ruin. Years later, a matured Briony discovers the true attacker but, while seeking atonement, realizes she cannot undo the damage. Ultimately, an elderly Briony, by now a novelist and determined to mine the story, out of a sense of guilt, reveals that the romantic reunion in her novelisation of the story is a fiction, as she was never able to truly atone for her actions. The novel plays free with the timeline and attempts to explore the power of youthful imagination, when it turns destructive.
Dempster, who plays Briony at 13, and later at 18 as a nurse trainee enduring the Blitz, perfectly captures the precocious, self-absorbed, young girl whose romantic obsession with Robbie was fuelled in a key moment when she spies on him and Cecilia making love. That moment, with Cecilia looking ethereal in that famous green satin evening gown, is etched in her memory and fires her to exploit the later crime which takes place in the grounds.
Top designer Anthony Ward doesn’t disappoint on the gown front but has a big challenge here. The settings in the novel are very varied with a centrepiece being the journey for the men in WWII heading to the beaches of Dunkirk, and journeys are always tough for stage designers. His solution here is quite minimalist, a vast rectangular picture frame proscenium reached by a spiral staircase which fills the rear of the stage provides two levels and is enhanced by elegant video projections by Andrzej Goulding, which mimic typewriting or letter writing (crucial here), or which translate the characters speaking in French, all of which gives the piece a multimedia texture. Alexandra Faye Braithwaite's edgy modern music score, too, greatly enhances the mood.
Some might feel that it misses the novel’s deepest ambiguities, and the marginalisation of characters like the predatory business tycoon Paul Marshall (Tom Chapman) and his exploited wife Lola (Yanexi Enriquez) leaves us missing a key part of the puzzle. In Hampton’s defence I would say that stage adaptations can generally provide an overview of an expansive text, so what you’re aiming for is to capture the texture of the piece, which he does very well. What he brings to it is his gift for dialogue, particularly subtext – we are dealing with the English upper classes here, after all.
This is a solid and engaging staging with an appealing cast under the assured direction of Adam Penford.
