8 January 2026
Between Christmas and New Year we were at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon to see the Royal Shakespeare Company production of John Galsworthy's 'The Forsyte Saga', dramatised in two parts by Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan. I was vaguely aware of 'The Forsyte Saga', mainly from hearing a BBC Radio 4 dramatisation some years ago. That adaptation was the work of McJenna and Coghlan who later decided to use it as the basis for a new stage version which premiered in 2024 at the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park and has now transferred to the RSC. To strip Galsworthy's nine novels (written across the first three decades of the twentieth century) into two plays, they sensibly decided to focus on two of the main narratives. Part 1 starts in 1886 and tells the story of Irene Forsyte and her troubled relationship with her husband Soames. Part 2 jumps to the 1920s to focus on Fleur Forsyte. Both plays are narrated (from 1926) by Fleur, who is trying to piece together the reasons for the great schism within the Forsyte family. The plays, directed by Josh Roche, use a very bare stage to allow for multiple rapid scenes, with some characters jumping instantly from one setting to another. A strong cast do a great job of bringing the family and the period to life, with Fiona Hampton as Irene, Flora Spencer-Longhurst as Fleur and Joseph Millson as Soames standing out. And the period costumes by Anna Yates are gorgeous.
No comments:
Post a Comment