The Cherry Orchard was the model for Stephen Beresford’s 2012 play The Last of the Haussmans. His new comedy, The Southbury Child, directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Alex Jennings as David Highland, an affable vicar whose principles put him at odds with the world, is An Enemy of the People with hints of The Winslow Boy.
In Mark Thompson’s set, the Devon church looming over the vicarage resembles the prow of a ship on a collision course for land, striking an apt note of disaster-movie doom. David’s refusal to allow a family to bring Disney balloons to their child’s funeral becomes the catalyst for public outrage and weaponised offence. Determined that the gravity of the occasion be respected, he argues that “death is death. It isn’t balloons”.
