Director Nikolai Foster talks about his production of Kes at the Liverpool Playhouse

Sep 17 2009 Flintshire Chronicle

It was not just his Yorkshire childhood that made Nikolai Foster feel so strongly moved by Barry Hines’s book, A Kestrel for a Knave.

The victim of severe bullying at school, he experienced a deep resonance with Billy, the boy who finds solace from the brutality of real life in his own imagination.

“When I re-read it to prepare for this production, it had a profound effect on me,” explains the 29-year-old, who is directing the Liverpool Playhouse’s new version of Kes, which opens this week.

“Luckily, I didn’t grow up in poverty, but I experienced terrible bullying and I grew up in a rural community like Billy. I was always running around outside and building dens and losing myself in my imagination like he does.”

It is Foster’s vivid imagination that promises to make this new production dazzle.

He has been working closely with designer, Matthew Wright to create a backdrop to the story of the boy who finds solace in his relationship with a kestrel that will incorporate both a school setting and the great outdoors. His direction, when matched with Lawrence Till’s script, will give fans of both the original book and Ken Loach’s acclaimed 1969 film something to look forward to.

“I watched the film before coming to this production because it’s a work of genius and astonishing beauty, and it makes a nice reference point, but this isn’t a copy of it,” says Denmark-born Foster.

“The great thing is that, because it was so faithful to the novel, and so is our play, the audience will recognise the dialogue from both the film and the book.”

Pupils of four Merseyside schools will take on the roles of the children in the show. Billy will be played by Stefan Butler, who comes to the Playhouse from a UK tour of the David Essex musical All The Fun Of The Fair.

Both this and The Witches of Eastwick, also directed by Nikolai Foster, visited the Empire Theatre earlier this year. Kes starts its own tour after its Liverpool run, when the children will be played by young people from each city it plays in. They will be prepared for their roles by the Touring Consortium.

“We have had the young actors from Liverpool in for their first rehearsal and they were all very well-behaved,” laughs Foster. “We need them to mess around like they would in a real classroom, but hopefully they’ll relax into it soon.”

Kes is at the Liverpool Playhouse from September 18 to October 10. Visit www.everymanplayhouse.com or ring 0151 709 4776.