To Kill a Mockingbird

Michael Buffong, director of Birmingham Rep and West Yorkshire Playouse's co-production of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning tale at The Kings Theatre, To Kill A Mockingbird, is convinced the story is as relevant today as when it was first published in 1960 at the height of the civil rights struggle. Lee's portrayal of sleepy childhood innocence stretched to breaking point on the rack of racial tensions in America's Deep South can, says Buffong, be likened to the shock to the national consciousness dealt by tragedies such as the Stephen Lawrence murder. "To humanity's huge discredit, things that were happening then are still happening now. Perhaps things have actually got worse since the 1930s rather than better – not a happy thought is it?"

Christopher Sergel's stage adaptation and Buffong's direction realise Lee's vision powerfully. TV star Duncan Preston's Atticus is no lantern-jawed crusader as in Gregory Peck's famous film role. Rather we have an ordinary man, a beaten-down lawyer whose diligence and courage are pitted against the entrenched prejudices of an entire society as he defends a black man of the rape of a poor white girl. Finally, Buffong is set to employ a Brechtian conceit, bringing the audience even closer to the action of this compelling, and sadly relevant tale.