To Kill A Mockingbird
★★★★★ Compelling
Festival Theatre: Tue 21 – Sat 25 Oct 2025
Review by Rebecca Mahar
All rise for the UK & Ireland tour of To Kill a Mockingbird, Aaron Sorkin’s incisive adaptation of Harper Lee’s epochal novel at the Festival Theatre all week, and the Glasgow King’s for the first week in November.
Set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, in the early 1930s, To Kill a Mockingbird centres around the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of rape by a young white woman, and the lawyer, Atticus Finch, appointed to defend him against an all-white jury and the threat of the electric chair if convicted
Richard Coyle (Atticus Finch) and Aaron Shosanya (Tom Robinson) with the To Kill A Mockingbird cast. Pic: Johan Persson.
Finch is the principal protagonist of the piece, but the story is told through the narration of his young daughter Scout, her brother Jem, and their friend Dill.
Scout is the locus of the piece, both, as she says, “narrating and also part of the narrative.” She relates the events of the play while simultaneously working to make sense of them, bringing the audience along on her journey of reflection and discovery.
This adaptation is full of Sorkin’s signature sharpness, getting to the heart of difficult, essential issues and questions with his devastating combination of witty repartee and raw, soul-piercing truth. Under the strong direction of Bartlett Sher, the company of To Kill a Mockingbird have risen to the challenge set by both the source material and Sorkin’s script.
spectacular debut
Understudy John J. O’Hagan makes a spectacular debut as Atticus Finch, stepping in for Richard Coyle. O’Hagan balances Finch’s mild-mannered, humorous exterior with the strength of his convictions and his dedication to justice as he builds a decisive case, proving that Robinson could not have committed the crime he is accused of – while revealing the real perpetrator.
Opposite, Andrea Davy is exceptional as Calpurnia, the black woman who has worked for Finch’s late wife’s family since she was sixteen, and holds him to account when he reveals his own unintended prejudice.
Dylan Malyn (Dill Harris), Anna Munden (Scout Finch) and Gabrield Scott (Jem Finch) in To Kill A Mockingbird. Pic: Johan Persson.
The trio of Scout (Anna Munden), Jem (Gabriel Scott), and Dill (Dylan Malyn) are brilliant as a unit and individually, each physically detailed and achieving the difficult balance of adults playing children with wisdom beyond their years. Munden leads with a frank curiosity, inviting the audience to consider right, wrong, and in between.
Aaron Shosanya’s Tom Robinson is an extraordinarily subtle portrait of a man trapped in an impossible situation. His initial meeting with Atticus and his appearance taking the stand in the courtroom are equally striking, extremes of Robinson working to navigate a system rigged against him.
Mayella and Bob Ewell, Robinson’s accuser and her abusive father, are given awful depth by Evie Hargreaves and Oscar Pearce respectively. Both give unvarnished performances of their characters’ bigotry, and Hargreaves is particularly compelling as Mayella: undoubtedly both a villain and a victim, squirming her way through false testimony and courtroom outbursts.
a staunch, vital translation
While there are a few moments of questionable pacing, and Sorkin’s writing becomes a little less self-assured in the final stretch of the play, this To Kill a Mockingbird is unquestionably a staunch, vital translation of the original, ready to bring its challenges to a contemporary audience.
As Scout reflects, “something larger is required of us,” in engaging fully with this story. This is a production which reminds why we must find something in us that is willing to rise for what’s right, for truth, and the pursuit of liberty and justice for all.
Running time: Two hours and 50 minutes (including one interval)
Festival Theatre, 13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT.
Tue 21 – Sat 25 Oct 2025.
Evening: 7.30pm, Thurs, Sat mats: 2.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
Access performances: 25 Oct 2:30pm show will be audio described and BSL interpreted with a touch tour before the performance; 23 Oct 7:30pm show will be captioned.
Oscar Pearce (Bob Ewell) and Richard Coyle (Atticus Finch) in To Kill A Mockingbird. Pic: Johan Persson.
ENDS
