REVIEWS FOR RETURN OF THE NATIVE!
WHAT'SONLIVE
Hotbuckle's 'The Return of the Native' is at Shrewsbury's Theatre Severn on the 7thand 8th May.
The good news is that Hotbuckle Theatre Company is back on the road … and the even better news is that 'The Return of the Native' is their most powerful production seen by me so far. An out-and-out tragedy is a most interesting choice, but fear not, even this tale of woes is riddled with adapter and director Adrian Preater's highly inventive playfulness.
Written in the 1870's, Thomas Hardy's not-quite-so-well-known Wessex novel deals with the loves, losses and betrayals of a handful of folk living on a desolate heathland in Dorset. The very remoteness of the place means there is limited choice when it comes to falling in love. Conflicting affections are inevitable; and it's the jealousies, greed and raw passions that drive all concerned to the brink.
The stage is set with a collection of wooden stools of differing height which, in true Hotbuckle fashion, become everything from a flaming bonfire, a thicket, a country style and a crumbling riverbank. All four cast members provide the music; banjo, brass section and washboard. But actually, it is the sheer quality of the acting that is utterly hypnotising. It's a bit like having the Royal Shakespeare Company pitch up at your local village hall.
Adrian Preater himself must have sore missed the roar of the crowd for he is back on stage in the roles of the virtuous, selfless Reddleman (in his red dye-splattered jacket) and Christian, the simple, chaotic, clown; among several others. Mr Preater never misses a trick when it comes to comic gesture and tom-foolery … but in this story his ability to play sorrowful fortitude is also given full scope.
The other bedrock of Hotbuckle these days is Joanna Purslow who majors as the troubled Mrs Yeobright, at the mercy of the wavering hearts of the next generation. Pain - physical and emotional - is etched on the actor's face, and shivers through her whole body, as she believes herself to be abandoned by her son. Jo's portrayal of her her character's sad decline and death is the compassionate core of the play. It requires an actor of great experience and sensitivity to pull it off.
It's very good to see Beth Organ back in the fold again. You have to be versatile to work for Hotbuckle and, by simply un-velcro-ing one colour skirt for another (and simultaneously rebooting her mindset!) she oscillates wonderfully between both star-crossed young women; the innocent Thomasin and the proud, bewitching Eustacia. The love interest in both cases is excellently portrayed by the modern day 'matinee idol' that is William Witt, as the untrustworthy, lady-killing Damon Wildeve and the professional Clym; the native returning to the heath.
William is new to the company and has slipped into it's distinct style like putting on a favourite overcoat. It's a particularly impressive debut. The brooding power he and Beth build between them in one pairing, and the cooler resigned relationship in the other, fair transfixed the audience at Aberdovey.
Then there are the much anticipated, trademark set-pieces. The Mummers' Play is colourfully done with plenty of rustic humour. Adrian Preater creates a deep, echoing well on stage with no electronic jiggery pokery at all. The gambling game that is Christian's downfall simply comprises gesture and on-stage sound effects. The frying of the deadly adder is incredibly ingenious; economically re-using a highly unlikely prop from a previous scene. And the fearsome, fateful whirlpool is a single, swirling grey blanket. Hotbuckle create stage-craft solutions that are so cleverly obvious, no one could possible have thought of them before.
But for all the fun and games, Hardy's dour morality faithfully underpins this pocket production of his stage-shy story. I'm sure he'd approve. His original C19th manuscript was serialised and the producers of Yorkshire's 'Emmerdale' could take inspiration from the spectacle before me last night. It's touring widely, (including Pickering on May 2nd, if they're interested)!
Chris Eldon Lee. 30th April 2026
StageTalk MAGAZINE
Never one to shy away from contentious, controversial plotlines, Thomas Hardy’s sixth novel was first serialised in the sensationalist magazine Belgravia between January and December 1878. This tragic tale of doomed romance, now seen as one of Hardy’s most popular and highly regarded works, explores his recurring thematic concerns of fate, unfulfilled desire, social constraints, and the power of nature – indomitable forces which shape our destiny and which are frequently at odds with the strict Victorian moral and social codes of the time.
Hotbuckle Theatre Company was formed in 2006 and has spent the last twenty years bringing ambitious literary classics to the stage, most notably the works of Hardy and Jane Austen. Artistic director Adrian Preater has written, adapted and directed all their shows to date, starring in the majority of them too and making a welcome return to the stage for Return of the Native. “Above all”, he says, “we strive to make whatever story we are telling as human as possible. Novels that may well have seemed impenetrable before will be unlocked and freed for an audience to enjoy.”
Hardy’s Wessex, of course, provides the setting: Egdon Heath, a remote, rural backwater inspired by the lowland heaths of Dorset to which Clym Yeobright, the eponymous native, has returned following a wealthy spell as a jeweller in Paris in order to seek a simpler and more idealistic life as a teacher to the rural poor back home. His life becomes entwined with Eustacia Vye, a beguilingly passionate, restless local woman suspected of witchcraft who seeks to escape the bleak heathlands for a more exciting life elsewhere. Their ill-fated union impacts numerous characters around them, most notably Damon Wildeve, a predatory and roguish innkeeper, and Thomasin Yeobright, Clym’s cousin, a young woman of gentle ways and conventional expectations. Miscommunications and conflicting ambitions between the four characters leads, unsurprisingly perhaps, to suffering, loss and tragedy. This is Thomas Hardy, after all.
Preater leads a highly talented cast of four players in an impressive show of inventive, minimalist stagecraft with a few simple but highly effective props, subtle lighting, slick Brechtian multi-roling and plenty of live music from the cast, distinctive Hotbuckle hallmarks honed over two decades. While Preater and Hotbuckle regular Joanna Purslow showcase their versatility in bringing to life a supporting cast of minor characters, it is the returning Beth Organ, and the outstanding William Witt in his debut for the company, who especially illuminate this production, transitioning fluidly and skilfully between the four very different lead roles with the simple donning of a velcroed skirt, a silk neckerchief or a pair of glasses.
The Irving Studio Theatre’s greatest strength lies in its size, with its stripped back claustrophobic confines once again perfectly suited to such an intimate and engaging production, one which immerses the audience completely in the drama as it plays out just a matter of feet away and where every nuance and detail of the actors’ craft is clearly on show. Whilst Hardy is not renowned for his humour, Preater is to be applauded for the clever blending of the source material with some delightful moments of levity and laughter, a welcome counterpoint to the tale’s darker themes. It is this which helps to “unlock” this tale, an absorbing study of human desire v societal constraint, making it accessible and “penetrable” for a new generation.
★★★★★ Tony Clarke, 12 June 2026