In a week of major theatrical openings such as this, less immediately starry shows are liable to get trampled underfoot in the media stampede. Much as I have admired Mean Girls the Musical and James Corden star-vehicle The Constituent in recent days, I have seen no show that, in terms of sheer loveliness and final achievement, beats this delightful new adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett children’s classic, first published in 1911.
Adaptation is an increasingly tricky game to play in 21st century theatre: too faithful and the piece runs the risk of falling dramatically flat, too far from the beloved source material and howls of protest inevitably arise. Holly Robinson and Anna Himali Howard, who also directs, have hit the jackpot here, maintaining all Hodgson Burnett’s key themes of a lonely and disagreeable orphan coming to life and finding friendship in nature, but cleverly amplifying the Indian side of Mary Lennox’s story.
Mary (adult actor Hannah Khalique-Brown) is now a 10-year old of dual English and Indian heritage; when her parents die in a cholera outbreak, she is shipped from India to England, to stay with her recluse of an invalid uncle (Jack Humphrey) in his house in Yorkshire.
Khalique-Brown is a real find, giving the imperious Mary a permanent frown and a hard stare to rival that of Paddington Bear. “Mary had not yet learnt to ask after other people” is a craftily repeated line, one that eventually and joyously gives way to “It was the dawning of a healthy sentiment”.
Given that – full marks to designer Leslie Travers – Mary’s new bed resembles a coffin topped by a stained-glass window, it is little wonder that she escapes from this large house full of secrets and unhappiness into the fresh air, where a world of discovery awaits her.
The Indian influence continues to fleck the action as the fluid ensemble darts around Mary: Sharan Phull, in a brightly coloured sari, plays the all-important robin that guides Mary to the titular horticulture, locked up 10 years previously by her grieving uncle. With the help of local lad Dickon (Brydie Service, warmly appealing) the determined Mary, not a young person accustomed to being given instruction, sets to work and as flowers start to unfurl, so do hard hearts.
This glorious amphitheatre in Regent’s Park is, of course, an ideal setting for such subject matter, surrounded as it is by the glories of nature in their full summer pomp. Mary’s growing garden is represented by colourful streamers suspended from tall hooks and, as night softly falls, we feel entirely encompassed by the joy of the outdoors.
I would heartily encourage any parent, or indeed any theatre or garden lover, to book tickets for themselves and their family right away.
To 20 July (0333 400 3562, openairtheatre.com)