Review: Considering The Luck Of Birth, CORAM BOY Is An Intriguingly Layered Web Of Stories Centered On London's First Foundling Hospital

Saturday 30th November 2019, 7:00pm, KXT

John Harrison and Michael Dean (Co-Directors) bring Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Jamila Gavin's children's novel CORAM BOY to the Sydney stage. A 15 strong cast fill the intimate KXT stage without making it feel overcrowded to tell the multilayered stories grounded in truth.

As background, in 1739 philanthropist Captain Thomas Coram's Foundling Hospital, which lives on in a fashion with the Thomas Coram Foundation For Children, first opened its doors, taking in the deserted infants and young children who he had seen dying in the streets. The establishment of the hospital also resulted in opportunistic people, referred to as 'Coram Men' promising to transport children from mothers outside of London to the hospital for a fee and sometimes the agreement of ongoing payment that was supposedly being passed back to the hospital.

CORAM BOY weaves three main storylines together. The core story revolves around the wealthy Ashbrook family, in particular their eldest son Alexander (Ryan Hodson), a 14 year old gifted musician who wants to continue with his music studies at Gloucester Cathedral Choir rather than learn how to run the family estate. The second focuses on former Tinker Man turned Coram Man, widower Otis Gardiner (Lloyd Allison-Young) and his developmentally challenged epileptic son Meshak (Joshua McElroy) who work and lurk in the forests of Gloucestershire and receive 'work' tip-offs from Mrs Lynch (Ariadne Sgouros), the Ashbrook's housekeeper. Finally the story is that of of Toby (Tinashe Mangwana), the son of an African slave, about to be released from the Foundling Hospital to work for Hospital benefactor Phillip Gaddarn (Lloyd Allison-Young), a cruel man with suspicious business dealings.

John Harrison's set design is, on face vale very simple with a multi-level asymmetrical bare stage and 4 wooden stools allowing sufficient space for the large cast which John Harrison and Michael Dean do well to fit into the space without making the work look cluttered. Costume design, by Suzanne Millar, Sonia McAlpine and Cleary O'Brien-Boots is kept simple, alluding to the historic setting but not tightly anchoring the work to the 18th century as the performers play multiple roles and young women play young boy roles. There is a common theme of a white upper garment that makes sense in the second act with a captivating physical expression of mother nature's force.

While all performances are strong and the story, which at time prompted a visceral responses from some of the audience, is powerful in its shocking exposure of what humans will do for money and power, the most stunning elements of the work come from the inventive stage direction, the sound design and composition (Nate Edmondson) and lighting design (Benjamin Brockman. With only 4 stools to work with, the cast become the forest in which Otis and Meshak hide adding to the understanding that Meshak is haunted by the understanding of what he is made to do, watched by the 'trees' whilst also visited by visions of his "Angel", his mother taken from him possibly in infancy. The entire cast weave across the stage with an incredibly choreographed frenzy and horse rides are executed with clarity and humor. When paired with Benjamin Brockman's lighting mysterious and ominous shadows are cast across the stage, silhouettes captured on the rear wall. Retro tungsten filament bulbs add a warmth and energy as they pulse while focus can be shifted from the main stage to the bank of 'choir stalls'. Nate Edmondson's music, interwoven with moments of Handel who also features as a character played by Gideon Payten-Griffiths, given that the composer really did have an association with the Coram Hospital, giving two performances in 1749 and 1750, is wonderfully varied allowing the cheerful moments of the Cathedral Choir with recorded voices bolstering the live singing, and darker, ominous tones along with aural expressions of things like the perpetual motion of the emerging industrial revolution.

CORAM BOY is an amazing feat of theatre as a work that could easily occupy a much larger space is presented with intimacy and engagement in the little KXT space. A well told interconnected tale of a bygone era which still holds the reminder that birth can greatly affect a person's prospects, but it still is dependent on the character of the individual as to how they chose to respond. Highlighting a side of the European, particularly English history, through variations of Coram men no doubt operated in similar ways in other parts of the world, CORAM BOY reminds us that we as a society need to ensure our most vulnerable are protected.

http://www.kingsxtheatre.com/coram-boy

Photos: Clare Hawley

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