The Lovely Bones - Crescent Theatre

 The Lovely Bones is not just a play about murder, it’s about instinct – whether that’s grief, anger, wonder or hope. The Crescent Theatre production captures this with the animal cries of a pack of dogs opening the show as Suzie Salmon’s killer demands sickeningly, ‘tell me you love me’, before the lights drop. What follows is a play driven by emotion, as Suzie’s family attempt to navigate her death, and their daughter desperately reaches out to them from the in-between. While conceptually intriguing, the production demands a great deal from its actors, which is not always delivered.

Sauntering onto the stage in a surprisingly whimsical manner, Suzie Salmon is bright and hopeful, complete with yellow trousers. Even as a ghost, Suzie is an ambitious and plucky 14-year-old, and Charlotte Tompson’s handling of the character was a real highlight. The scene of her rape and murder was presented with a combination of on-stage action, a voiceover from Suzie’s ghost and an overhead projector. This intensified the experience of the victim, and the viewpoint of the repulsive attacker George Harvey was appropriately side-lined. While at other times the use of the projector felt a bit clunky and unnecessary, it was an innovative choice for this extremely difficult scene.

Moving into a shot of the Salmon family, the set consists of a domestic dining room with an overflowing cupboard of possessions behind it, with an upturned painting, globe and dart-board spilling out into the room. This seems to symbolise Suzie’s childhood tragically cut-short, also reflecting the chaos her remaining loved ones are thrown into. James David Knapp is movingly affected as Suzie’s father, with a passion that unfortunately is never matched by his wife, portrayed by Angela Hewett. Buckley Salmon (Carl Latham) is a convincingly confused child, while Lindsey Salmon (Victoria Youngster) is bold and charismatic. The audience is caught between willing her to investigate her sister’s murder, and fearing that she will be Mr Harvey’s next victim.

At the centre of the action is George Harvey, who is portrayed by Oliver Jones as expertly slimy, meticulous and generally terrifying. Through giving a voice to the other young girls he has murdered – one as young as six – this production resists the typical romanticisation of the serial killer. The detective who investigates this crime, Len Fenerman, is frustratingly ineffectual, but actor Jason Adam also multi-roles well as Lindsay’s kind-hearted, dopey boyfriend. Even in a town wracked by grief, there are still people who fall in love and plan their futures.

Another such pair are Ruth Connors (Hannah Bollard) and Ray Walker (Ben Pountney), Suzie’s frenemy and childhood sweetheart. Suzie watches as the couple wonder how they can move on without the young woman they both love, with exchanges that are unexpectedly endearing. This production is at its best when depicting love and friendship, fulfilling director Rod Natkiel’s assertion that this is ‘a work about support, healing, hope and moving on’.

After a nail-biting cliffhanger just before the interval, the show returns for a second-half that is much shorter and much more disjointed. The characterisation fails to keep up with the convoluted plot, and the show may have benefitted from being a shortened one-act play instead. Still, in this half the audience hears Suzie’s compelling line: ‘these are the lovely bones that have grown about my absence’. Taking on such a hard-hitting story is no mean feat, and I found the Crescent’s adaptation surprisingly touching and poetic.