A decade after its sequel Home School was published, the stage adaptation of Charles Webb’s seminal novel comes to the Courtyard Theatre where LEO OWEN caught the show

A CHARMLESS over-privileged boy under-going an identity crisis is the subject of Charles Webb’s novel, first published when he was only 24, and like his lead character also rejecting material values. Most famous for its 1967 screen adaptation and exploration of the male fantasy, seen through immortal scenes of on-stage nudity, The Graduate comes to the Playhouse. Director Lucy Bailey returns to the WYP (Great Expectations and The Postman Always Rings Twice) with Terry Johnson’s stage adaptation, fleshing out the female perspective.

Mike Britton’s design purportedly echoes the language of the play and the minimalism of the early 1960s, relying heavily on projections to take us inside Benjamin’s thoughts and dreams. The play in fact opens with Benjamin (Jack Monaghan), lying on a double bed that’s heavily utilised throughout the play, predictably taking centre-stage. Less expected is the wetsuit he first dons, symbolic of his doting parents’ tendency to idolise him. His father attempts to bully him into showing-off his graduation gift to their party guests who are subtly silhouetted behind a curtain backdrop. This party setting introduces us to Mrs Robinson (Catherine McCormack) as a woman who “knows how to enjoy herself” and later comically denies she is trying to seduce Benjamin after her husband (Richard Clotheir) Hal’s departure.

From this first meeting, much of the play’s unnerving black humour is underpinned by characters’ skewered reactions to situations: Ben reassuring Mrs Robinson he finds her “more than adequately desirable”, made even more entertaining by the addition of sleazy trumpet music; his tactless post-coital quizzing of Mrs Robinson to uncover how she first married; the disastrous first date he takes Elaine (Emma Curtis) on, complete with nipple pasties and an amusing scene inside the Robinson house between Elaine, her mother and her precious rug. It is only as the play comes to a cute almost cyclic ending, mirroring parts of the play’s opening, that dialogue and action become absurdly farcical during the fast-talking church scene.

Bailey cleverly shows the passing of time by bed scenes and big-screen close-ups interspersed with Ben’s parents entreating him not to waste the summer. Amid the unanimously strong cast, McCormack truly shines, giving a phenomenal performance as Mrs Robinson, a dry, vulnerable and bitter functioning alcoholic who lost the freedom of her youth to pregnancy and societal norms. Fans of the film won’t be disappointed and newcomers are in for a real treat.

The Graduate shows in The Courtyard Theatre May 8-27 before continuing its UK tour: https://www.wyp.org.uk/events/the-graduate/