Angie Johnson is impressed and unnerved by a skilful production of Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies

Pegasus Theatre, Oxford

When I saw that Pegasus Youth Theatre were going to stage William Golding’s classic novel Lord of the Flies I was impressed at their bold but very apposite choice.

This incredibly dark tale is populated by characters of the same age as the 11-15 year-olds that make up participants in their drama course, and it proved to be an excellent decision.

The story is set on a desert island where a plane evacuating a group of very British schoolboys during an unnamed war has crashed. The pilot has been killed and they are completely unsupervised. Two boys, Ralph and Piggy, find a conch shell which they use as a horn to summon any other survivors.

During the week there were two casts playing some of the roles. On the night I saw the show Sebastian Wu played Ralph with a charming sensibility that accentuated the sheer normality of this character amid a sea of chaos. Gender-blind casting happily meant that Tilly Woolcott was able to give a brilliant performance as Piggy – skilfully capturing the strength, vulnerability and annoyingness of this complex character.

Once all the survivors are assembled we were introduced to the pint-sized psychopath Jack Merridew, Head Prefect of a public school choir, a bully and control freak.

Luca Sangiorgio had been playing this role for all the performances and by Friday had absolutely made it his own. Focused, charismatic and fierce throughout, he showed the comprehensive development of Jack from upper-class pedant to murderous savage. More than unnerving, it gave me the absolute heebie-jeebies watching him.

The other members of the cast gave strong support to the central performances. They were exceptionally powerful in the ensemble chanting and hunting scenes – which particularly displayed Director Leigh Toney’s complete mastery of this complex dystopian story.

Also deserving of high praise was the evocative and cleverly designed set of designer Nomi Everall, which used the confines of this small theatre as an advantage rather than a limitation, subtly introducing echoes of the despair of modern day refugee camps.

The work the Pegasus does to introduce young people to the theatre cannot be praised highly enough. If you want to see the future of the arts in this country you need go no further than there.

Angie Johnson

4/5