Horror and romance in Birdsong at Horsham's Capitol

From left: James Findlay, Riley Carter, Simon Lloyd, Alfie Browne-Skyes and Jeffery Harmer in Birdsong. Picture by Jack Ladenburg

Horsham's Capitol marks the centenary of the armistice this year by hosting the touring stage adaptation of Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong.

The show is at the venue from Monday to Saturday, April 23-28 – a piece which seems unimaginable on stage until you actually see it.

In pre-war France, a young Englishman, Stephen Wraysford, embarks on a passionate and dangerous affair with the beautiful Isabelle Azaire that turns their world upside down.

As the war breaks out over the idyll of his former life, Stephen must lead his men through the carnage of the Battle of the Somme and through the sprawling tunnels underground. Faced with the unprecedented horror of the war, Stephen clings to the memory of Isabelle as his world explodes around him.

Among the cast is Simon Lloyd who recalls the disbelief when it was first suggested the novel could be brought to the stage, adapted by Rachel Wagstaff. How on earth do you put tunnels on stage?

“They actually do it with some very inventive lighting, some very subtle lighting that gives you that dark and claustrophobic feeling.”

In other respects too, it is a show that has had to find its natural form on stage.