To Kill A Mockingbird UK Tour Review (Leeds Playhouse)

17 September 2025 I 19:15 I Leeds Playhouse (Quarry Theatre)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I PR - Invite

Whether encountered during A-Levels or through the 60s blockbuster film, Harper Lee's highly exposed novel To Kill A Mockingbird is treated to a searing revival following West End runs. At the height of the Great Depression, Bartlett Sher's direction of 1930s Alabama is unforgiving in its condemnation of racial prejudice. With a lengthier run time of 2hrs 50mins, a thorough drama offers a brutally magnified examination of the justice system, and who it chooses to favour.

Lee's racially charged original story derives itself from her observations growing up in Southern America. As a white author, the narrative primarily negotiates the Finch's ethnic privilege as a white, upper-middle class family. Adapted for stage by Aaron Sorkin, a sophisticated text observes the historical absence of civil rights almost a century prior to our own, with a contemporary awareness to human empathy that remains so relevant.

Photography Credit: Johan Persson

Bestowing the audience the role of the judge, Richard Coyle's Atticus Finch is steadfast in his remarkable stance as Maycomb's moral compass. In an unwavering characterisation, Coyle's meticulous attention to detail employs a measured posture and tone, defining Atticus with substantial integrity. His rendition is equally powerful and subdued in the right places, forced to confront his own imperfections opposite Andrea Davy's maternally resilient Calpurnia.

Miriam Buether secures yet another landmark set design adhering to industrial aesthetics, an economic zeitgeist of the Great Depression. Synonymous to a warehouse, metallic textures and columns enforce a geometric shape to the stage in a visually severe appearance.

Causing somewhat heavier transitions, scenic changes can be loud to the extent of drowning out a performer's speech. The result of which isn't entirely disappointing, with a mechanical soundscape filling an otherwise subdued production, an aural tribute to changing times. Scenes are presented with remarkable stagecraft, utilising methods such as upstaging to further oppression and power imbalances.

Photography Credit: Johan Persson

Through Scout's memories, a viewpoint directorially aware of its white privilege is supremely delivered by Anna Munden. Narrated through her adult self, she conducts the fidgety restlessness of a six-year-old with endearing likability, where Munden's age gifts Scout the emotional intelligence of someone much older. Sharing great onstage chemistry, Dylan Malyn (Dill) and Gabriel Scott (Jem) are adventurous and ambitious, offering intricate performances on the sensitivities and expectations of young men.

Sorkin's adaptation amplifies the falsely accused Tom Robinson (Aaron Shosanya), an expression likened to dissociation as the colour of his skin becomes weaponised. Shosanya's pacing is assured in his lethargy, leaning into Tom's empathy to find a compassionate and vulnerable character. Supporting antagonistic roles from Oscar Pearce and Evie Hargreaves (Bob and Mayella Ewell) are intimidating in their presences, enhanced by sullen, banal WHAM designs from Campbell Young Associates.

Framing a spirit of post World War One America, Sher's To Kill A Mockingbird is a brutal inspection of racial segregation. Opening the tour at Leeds Playhouse, the closeness of a thrust stage solicits the audience as Maycomb's jury. Not to mention standing ovations before the curtain rises for bows! Reflecting on a coming-of-age masterpiece, Harper Lee's novel is done immense justice for the stage.

Tickets and touring information: https://www.mockingbirdplay.com/