To Kill a Mockingbird at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park

I don't read much in the way of what you might describe as classic American literature, but I have read To Kill a Mockingbird... kind of.

I use the word "read" quite wrongly, I think. You see this book was on the syllabus for GSCE English Literature, as it was in the early 90s, and so I had very little choice in the matter. While I have doubtless pored over the themes and characterisation, written dreadful essays on the subject, and probably sat some exams about it, I can't honestly say that I have read it properly.

Given the above, it should be no surprise that the trip to the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park was a cocktail of three parts nausea to one part dread. The weather even seemed burdened by the same doubts, moody grey clouds threatened rain with a left jab before catching you with a right hook made of chilly breeze. Rude.

I could pause, at this point, and tell you a bit about Harper Lee and her childhood friendship with Truman Capote, on whom the character of Dill is supposed to be based, but I won't. Or rather, only for a bit. The play is more interesting, you see, because it rather blew me away.

Yes, some of the American accents were a bit dicey here and there, and yes the play is fairly black and white so you might argue that such polarised characters are difficult to get wrong but... just... wow.

It's difficult to know where to start. Izzy Lee (keep an eye out for her) as Scout was just about perfect, Robert Sean Leonard gave a performance straight out of the middle of the bat as her affectionate father Atticus. In fact, the majority of the cast were just fantastic.

Except Richie Campbell, who played the accused Tom Robinson.

I'm afraid there aren't really words to describe just how brilliant his second-half performance was. Utterly absorbing, compelling and genuinely skillful, Campbell's short spell on the stage is something that will stick in my memory forever, I hope. For ten forevers, even.

I came away feeling like I'd discovered something new and cool. The stage that doubled as a chalkboard on which the cast could draw streets and houses of the neighbourhood of Maycomb, the performance set against the backdrop of London's twilight, the well-rehearsed and slick ensemble that delivered a wonderful play in the cold and the drizzle. This was not your run-of-the-mill worthy reworking, but fun and moving and great at the same time.

Hopefully, the first of many trips to the Open Air Theatre at Regent's Park, certainly if the quality of To Kill a Mockingbird is anything to go by.