It’s astonishing to think that a book written almost 80 years ago depicting events in Alabama in the mid-1930s can still pack such an emotional punch, but Cayman Drama Society’s production of “To Kill A Mockingbird” successfully brings all the heart – and the heartbreak – of Harper Lee’s work to life.

Director Lee Joseph, working from Christopher Sergel’s dramatic script, has created a production which brings out all the themes of the classic text – racial injustice and intolerance, loss of childhood innocence and the battle between personal beliefs and societal pressures, to name but a few – but with a lightness of touch that was entertaining as well as thought-provoking.

Turning a near-100,000-word novel into a few hours of stage time is quite an achievement, but from curtain up the audience is plunged into the hot and dusty town of Maycomb, where nothing escapes your neighbour’s notice and whose inhabitants have long memories – and long-held prejudices.

As in the book, the action is observed through the eyes of children, most notably Scout Finch, an impressive performance by 14-year old high school student Lily Maddock. While Scout has to battle the usual childhood issues of school and social expectations, she, along with her football-loving older brother Jem and her wildly-imaginative friend Dill, is soon swept up into far more adult issues: A black man has been accused of attacking a white woman, and her father, lawyer Atticus Finch, aims to defend him, a decision which exposes deep fractures in the town.

The drama switches rapidly from front porches to a tense courtroom, the action given extra verisimilitude by real-life legal professionals in the cast and crew.

Director Joseph first read the book at school and has loved it ever since. “The story is a lot less simplistic and a lot more complex than people maybe realise,” she said. “People might think it’s about a particular subject, but it’s about so much more.”

Bringing together the 20-strong cast was a major challenge, she said, but people were able to play different ages or characters to meet the needs of the script.

“That’s the beauty of theatre,” she said. “We cast lots of people against type but it worked out really well.”

The themes of the play are timeless, she said, and relevant to Cayman today as much as anywhere. “It’s about empathy, it’s about being tolerant, and if you look at what’s happening around the world today, it’s as relevant as it ever has been.”

The production comes with a warning about racially-explicit language, thanks to the uses of the taboo N-word and other outdated words and attitudes. The language is not used gratuitously but in a way which is crucial to depict attitudes of the day.

“History is history, and I think if you sanitise it, you don’t tell history,” said Joseph. “You don’t learn the lessons of history if you sanitise it. That’s how they talked to people at that time, and I think it’s right to depict it. We’re not endorsing it.”

Standout performances include Stephen Leontsinis as Atticus Finch, quietly showing his children there are different types of courage; Vanessa Hansen Allot, whose troubled and fiery Mayella Ewell sets the courtroom alight; and Abbey Le Comu, whose narration as the older Scout holds the production together. However, it was a truly ensemble production which brought Maycomb with all its very human faults and failings to life in the Prospect Playhouse.

Performance dates and times – Prospect Playhouse, Prospect

Tickets available online at Cayman Drama Society. Tickets $30 for adults, $15 for students.

7.30pm (Thursday, Friday and Saturday)
Oct 8, 9, 10
Oct 15, 16, 17
Oct 22, 23, 24
4pm (Sunday)
Oct 11, 18, 25