Film Synopsis

Alice Birch has adapted for this film Nikolai Leskov’s 1865 novel Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. The violence inherent in this tale disgusted Stalin when Shostakovich used it in 1934 for his opera of the same name, and caused Shostakovich’s fall from grace.

Transposed to rural England it is no less transgressive and the forceful character of Katherine, played by Florence Pugh, powers the action. Instructed to play the inactive and decorative wife by her husband and his bullying father Boris, she seizes every opportunity to roam across the moors of the estate when they are absent. Boredom is banished when she meets an estate worker, the young and passionate Sebastian, who is the opposite of her weak and withdrawn husband. Her maid is involved in their risky affair and a visiting priest who attempts to warn Katherine about her unconventional behaviour receives a magnificent put-down.

She determinedly pursues her own way, sweeping aside anyone who hinders her. Dressing in her dark blue dress and sitting on a bronze-coloured sofa is almost all her menfolk require of Katherine.That suited Oldroyd, for he was creating a costume drama on a shoestring. He shot the film in one northern house and over only a little more than three weeks, with the result that Florence Pugh develops into her character in the same way as Katherine grows in to her new life as a married woman.

The setting is austere and there is little music, so that the attention is always focused on the psychological drama.

JT

Event Times & Venue

Date: Wednesday 27th February 2019
Start Time: 8pm.

Address: The Performance Hall,
The Cecil Hepworth Playhouse,
Hurst Grove,
Walton-on-Thames,
Surrey KT12 1AT

Note: Hurst Grove is off Hepworth Way (A3050)

Parking: On-site parking is extremely limited and patrons are directed, unless mobility is very restricted (places available only on a first-come, first-served basis), to use the ample free facilities behind Little Waitrose, which is a short way further along Hepworth Way.