
Birdsong At The Birmingham Rep: Moving And Powerful
The iconic Birdsong returned to Birmingham last night at the city’s Rep theatre, and once again, it was a powerful reminder of the futility of war. The Sebastian Faulks novel, adapted for the stage by Rachel Wagstaffe, is essentially a love story, one of a man for a woman, and of men for their comrades. It is moving, powerful, and utterly devastating, an elegy of fighting when you’ve completely forgot what you are fighting for. It is one of the most incredible pieces of theatre you will see in this year, or any year. It is unmissable.
The story mainly follows the book with three clear sections. The first, set in Amiens in 1910, is the love story of Stephen Wraysford, a damaged young man, and Isabelle Azaire, a sad, downtrodden young wife. They have a torrid affair and she leaves her abusive husband for Stephen, but we later learn that she returned to her husband for reasons unknown. Stephen never recovers from the affair, and, when war arrives, he has almost a death wish, placing himself in dangerous situations when he doesn’t need to, refusing leave when he is almost killed in a tunnel explosion. He is forever haunted by his love for Isabelle, and not knowing where she is.
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Stephen’s plight in the trenches of WW1 France is contrasted with the men who create the tunnels that ran underneath the Western Front, the Sappers. These include Jack Firebrace, a natural leader amongst men (who has a personal heartbreak whilst in the trenches,) his best friend Shaw, as well as Turner, Evans and Brennan. We also have the young Michael Tipper, just 15 years old, he has lied about his age to sign up, and is now faced with the true horror of his situation. We truly see war in all its horrors here, from the death on the front where young men are sent wholesale to their slaughter, and the descriptions of death are brutal and vivid.

The acting is uniformly brilliant throughout. James Esler is a perfect Stephen, turning from boyish to jaded as the play moves on. Charlie Russell is similarly wonderful as Isabelle, her quiet despair is harrowing, and she has wonderful chemistry with Esler. Raif Clarke will break your heart as the innocent, terrified youngster Tipper. The standout performance though is the incredible Max Bowden, who steals every scene as Jack Firebrace, an utterly decent, heartbroken man who cannot get over the death of his son and best friend.

The sets, designed by Richard Kent, are wonderful, particularly the rendering of ‘going over the top’ and the claustrophobia of the tunnels, stark and sparse, they work so well. Time is also effectively used – this is a long play with three acts, but not a minute is wasted.
Birdsong is now 30 years old, but its powerful, personal telling of the futility of war is timeless.

