Grief is the Thing with Feathers

Grief, I often think at funerals, can at least be tolerated as a homage to love, of love now lost but relished. For the introverted widower in Max Porter’s novella, here adapted to the Belvoir stage, this grief is an agony, a total out-of-body dislocation of self. 

As a scholar of Ted Hughes, he conjures the poet’s favoured creature, the Crow, as an embodiment of grief and shock agent of recovery for him and his two young boys. 

Grief is co-adapted by director Simon Phillips, lighting and set designer Nick Schlieper and actor Toby Schmitz, who with quicksilver agility plays both the uncertain Dad and, donning a black leather coat, his avian alter ego, a rakish and strutting street-philosopher.

Crow’s explosive arrival at this London flat is a high point in the collaboration of creative skills in Phillips’ highly visceral production: haunting B&W crow illustrations and landscapes (Jon Weber) and expansive video design (Craig Wilkinson); thrilling sound from Daniel Herron and busy onstage cellist Freya Schack-Arnott, with dramatic and precise lighting shifts from Schlieper.

Matching this abstraction is a non-linear narrative including snatches of fables, old family stories, dreams and conflicting memories, and a poetic language rich in insight and wit.  Schmitz impressively remains imprisoned in his grief while ably leaping through the storytelling (and jokes) by the enigmatic Crow or self-deprecating Dad.

Adding humour and pathos to this sombre tale are the young adult actors, Philip Lynch and Fraser Morrison, engagingly playing “down” as Dad’s rowdy boys.  They are skeptical of Crow’s antics and far more resilient to the sudden accidental death of their mother. By the end, their mockery of Dad eases, and their love for him is beautifully etched. 

Only then do (my) tears flow. Phillips’ production is so fast and fantastical that somehow any easy empathy is suspended. The three actors (plus Crow) however make a perfectly timed ensemble, and Schmitz’ performance is award-winning.

Martin Portus

Photographer: Brett Boardman.