Townie couple Robert and Jolie settle into an English village only to face every parent’s nightmare when their otherworldly son, Lanny, goes missing. Max Porter’s novel comes to the Bristol Old Vic stage through Bea Roberts’ adaptation, working with green man mythology, local suspicion, and the chaotic weight of parenthood.
Adapting Porter’s Rural Noir for the Bristol Old Vic
Urban transplants Robert, played by Raj Bajaj, and Jolie, portrayed by Hanora Kamen, stand at the center of the drama. The couple has barely unpacked their belongings in the sticks when their otherworldly son Lanny, played on press night by Lucian Thomas, disappears. As a police procedural gathers momentum, the ancient, pagan weight of a green man figure named Dead Papa Toothwort looms heavily over the human tragedy.
Staging the Shadow of Dead Papa Toothwort
Bea Roberts handled the blend of reality, runaway imagination, and hallucinatory folklore, while director Nancy Medina balanced the production’s pace, horror, and humor. The atmosphere relies on Rebecca Jane Wood’s haunted set design, which incorporates village architecture and brooding woodland backdrops. Screens project scratchy visuals of bare branches and antler silhouettes reminiscent of a Brothers Grimm storybook, working in tandem with Zeynep Kepekli’s cold and warm lighting cues to conjure Dead Papa Toothwort’s parallel domain.
Voices and modern chatter cross-fade across the auditorium, sometimes materializing as floating text projected across the set. Richard Cant plays “Mad Pete,” a bohemian figure whose sexuality marks him out to spikier neighbors and quickly turns him into the town’s prime suspect in Lanny’s disappearance.
Staging Parenthood and the Pain of Loss
The production examines the emotional disconnect and crushing responsibilities that arrive with raising children. Robert’s character captures this existential weariness when he reflects.
who can have children and not go completely mad?
Kamen delivers a fierce performance as Jolie, anchoring the story as a mother left broken and furious by her child’s disappearance. Thomas handles the demanding role of Lanny with equal skill.
The stage version also amplifies village prejudice, sharpening local homophobia directed toward Mad Pete and introducing a racial element concerning Lanny’s identity as a brown boy. Reviewers note that some of the book’s subtler anxieties—such as the urban couple’s deep dislocation among judgmental neighbors and questions over who truly owns the land—get swallowed up by the frantic fever of the gothic plot.
Reaching the Climax at the Bristol Old Vic
The production spirals into a surreally hallucinatory conclusion during its final moments, leaving the resolution suspended between tragedy and wonder. Whether the closing scene represents a song, a story, or an actual miracle—with a pagan god showing mercy to the humans occupying his territory—has not been answered.
The production continues its run at the Bristol Old Vic through November 7, giving audiences a limited window to experience the woodland noir before the green man’s woodland finally clears the stage.