Review: THE TAXIDERMIST'S DAUGHTER, Chichester Festival Theatre

Chichester Festival Theatre welcomes their 60th anniversary season with The Taxidermist's Daughter, a gothic tale of revenge set across the Sussex marshes in 1912. Adapted from her bestselling novel, author Kate Mosse has transported her literary vision to the stage in the very heart of the town that she grew up in. The novel is oozing with narrative potential and moody landscape, but surprisingly Chichester's adaptation feels underwhelming.

Connie Gifford (Daisy Prosper) grapples with the broken memories of a shocking assault at her father's local taxidermy museum 10 years prior. Connie's father is the once talented but ever-intoxicated Crowley Gifford (Forbes Masson), plagued constantly by guilt and shame over the same trauma that caused his daughter's persisting amnesia.

The Giffords' lives quickly become intertwined with that of Cassie Pine (Pearl Chanda), hell bent on revenge following her recent escape from Graylingwell Hospital. Róisin McBrinn's directorial debut delivers Cassie's descent into obsession convincingly, but multiple scenes comprised of two to three characters drag with uncertainty. When the full cast joins together on stage, the air of the bustling Chichester streets is authentically energetic. Pacing issues aside, this production does succeed in presenting fully embodied locations to mirror the details of Mosse's original book.

What truly shines are the show's excellent lighting (Prema Mehta), video (Andrzej Goulding) and design (Paul Wills.) Harsh rain batters the bleak coastland and evokes the foreboding atmosphere that the script yearns for. Not surprisingly, the taxidermy on show is exceptional and will make you wish you could explore the Giffords' desolate museum for hours.

Once the damage from a decade before is revealed in an uncovered memory, witnessed only by young Connie hidden amongst her father's curiosities, the momentum drops abruptly. Though efforts are made to handle the sudden sexual violence sensitively, the movement direction (Chi-San Howard) feels clumsy and inappropriate. Numerous fight scenes (Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown) equally underwhelm and fail to match the ferocity of the imagined storms across Fishbourne.

It's clear that the intention is to shock us with revelations of immorality but Cassie's attempted retribution feeds into outdated discourse surrounding gender and violence. Her frustration at the lack of privilege afforded by her gender feels misplaced, as does the notion that victims of childhood trauma are ultimately too damaged to survive in society. What could read as harsh commentary of the actions of the depraved turns sharply inwards, instead highlighting Cassie as an unstable creature beyond reprieve.

Mosse brings the richness of historical Chichester to life; it's clear that her childhood experiences amongst the Sussex countryside have influenced her work. Despite the scenery, the script tries too hard to match the tragedy of a Mary Shelley novel, with so much exposition that none of the unfolding events are unexpected.

The physical transformation of Chichester's stage is certainly worth visiting for, but with a run time of two hours and 20 minutes, don't expect the pace to increase as the story unfolds. Chichester Festival Theatre's 60th anniversary season is comprised of 12 productions across the year, so there's plenty of choice if mystery in the coastal wetlands isn't what you're after.

The Taxidermist's Daughter at Chichester Festival Theatre until 30 April

Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz

To post a comment, you must register and login.