Theatre review: Blue Remembered Hills

2:28pm Tuesday 20th February 2007

BLUE Remembered Hills, one of Dennis Potter's best-known plays, transports us back to the 1940s. A group of children in the West Country re-enact the war by shooting at each other and pretending to be aeroplanes.

But we are reminded it is not such an innocent scene, with violence just under the surface.

The playful games cut to one of the boys, Donald Duck, sobbing: "Come back Dad, come back Dad".

And the killing and death from the backdrop of war starts to be mirrored in the lives of the youngsters.

Their childish games end with the killing of a squirrel and the shocking and powerful closing of the play sees the innocence shattered when one of their group ends up dead.

The play's disturbing feel is compounded by the children's roles being played by adults, which makes uncomfortable viewing.

Lee Tyler playing Willie and Peter Andrew as Peter are particularly good at mastering the schoolboy mannerisms - the sniggering, wiping their noses with their sleeves and the fighting.

Tight Fit Theatre's production, staged in the Broadway's studio theatre and just over an hour long, is hilarious, disturbing and moving.

Blue Remembered Hills, to March 3. Broadway Theatre, Catford Broadway. Box office 020 8690 0002.