The Birds

Louise Fox has fashioned a brilliant adaptation of du Maurier’s chilling story of an uprising of birds. Adapted into a thriller by Alfred Hitchcock (1963) the mysterious and ominous behaviour of the birds focuses predominantly on crows and is set in a coastal town in the US. The film captures the looming threat of the birds well but glosses over the paranoia and sheer terror that is conveyed in the short story. Fox remains faithful to the short story but goes a step further and makes a woman the protagonist and the only voice of reason in the face of what seems like a preposterous natural disaster.

Tessa (Paula Arundell) confronts the threat of the birds head on. She protects herself, her family and her home and with a calm and level-headed determination, attributes that the original story gives its male protagonist. Arundell gives an astonishing solo performance eliciting all the horror via her vivid portrayal and narration of all the characters and events. Her ability to shift her voice and demeanour instantaneously between the different personas is breathtaking. The presence of the birds becomes truly terrifying especially with the aid of some exceptional sound (J. David Franzke) and lighting (Niklas Pajanti) effects. The staging effectively creates the devastating violence of the birds and the alarm that they raise is palpable in the auditorium.

The staging also takes a very unusual approach to the audio-visual experience. The audience is provided with headsets which indulges a sense of immersion in the action. This produces something akin to a theatrical audio book or podcast. Cox retains all the richness of the language, and the intense tension created by the pace of the story. This allows the contemporary relevance of the story to come to the forefront. The lacklustre collective response to impending doom and the proliferation of ridiculous theories with fatal consequences are unequivocally emphasised. The terror that this elicits comes not only from the violence of the birds but especially from the complete lack of preparation that society exhibits in the face of a revolt of nature. 

This production breathes new terrifying life into the horrific scenario that du Maurier imagines. 

Patricia Di Risio 

Photographer: Pia Johnson