Review: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Cast, Doncaster.

It is brave of Northern Ballet to even attempt to stage The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. An immediate bestseller, John Boyne's novel tells the harrowing story of young Aryan German lad Bruno, who, in the middle of the Second World War befriends Shmuel a Jewish captive held in an adjacent concentration camp. It is the same camp where Bruno's father is the Commandant.

Filippo Di Vilio as Shmuel and Matthew Koon as Bruno.

However, we are used to challenging theatre from NBT and the evening is brilliantly danced visually innovative and chilling. But – and there are big buts here – there are a number of failures.

The first is Gary Yershon’s jarring score, which is a relentless assault on the ears and adds nothing to the atmosphere of the piece. The characterisation is similarly pretty crude. The evil menace of Herr Hitler is portrayed as a cross-between the Childcatcher of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang and Jeff Goldblum’s portrayal of The Fly.

While Daniel de Andrade’s choreography contains some delicate and frequently touching moves, there are other scenes that will remind audiences of John Cleese impersonating a German soldier in Fawlty Towers.

Sean Bates as Lieutenant Kotler. Picture by Emma Kauldhar.

This is a curate’s egg of a production which teeters around between the tear-jerking and the risible, and it never quite knows where (or how) it wants to go. However, there are some wonderfully charismatic performances from Matthew Koon and Filippo Di Vilio as the youngsters who find themselves on either side of the dividing line and it’s through them that the evening becomes relevant and affecting.

The doomed Lieutenant Kotler, a man who has clearly been a fervent supporter of the Nazi Youth Movement, is another performance to watch - Sean Bates has him to perfection, riding high, puffed up with his SS arrogance, and then, suddenly, stripped of his power and banished to the front.

Is The Boy genuine dance material? Well, it has its moments. But those moments are emphatically not found in the music. Not for a single depressing second.

The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas is now on tour and will be at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Hull New Theatre in the autumn.