It seems we simply can’t escape that relevant old cliché about history repeating itself. Not too long ago, Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird seemed to have settled into a comfortable status as an American classic, its lesson of injustice and racial inequality well-learned. Lee’s novel, published in 1960, looks back to the 1930’s in Maycomb, Alabama, where Atticus Finch, a small town attorney and widower raising two children, is asked to defend a Black man accused of rape by a white woman. He eventually takes the case, fearing displays of hate, but certain that he can find a common sense of justice in an all-white jury.
Widely read and brimming with complexities, the Pulitzer-winning novel was subsequently adapted for the screen in a film that earned Gregory Peck an Oscar as Atticus Finch, and a nomination for Mary Badham as Atticus’ daughter, Scout Finch. Following Lee’s death in 2016, a stage version of To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Bartlett Sher, opened on Broadway in 2018 to significant acclaim. That production’s National Tour launched in March, 2022 and is now in its third season. Currently making a week-long run in Knoxville at the Tennessee Theatre, To Kill A Mockingbird stars Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch in an engrossing and atmospheric production that now enjoys an inescapable timeliness and relevance.
Sorkin’s script has taken a different approach to the structure of Lee’s story, jumping fluidly about in time from courtroom to Finch front porch and back through other locations. This non-linearity gives the storyline freshness and opportunities to insert atmosphere into the production’s visual appeal. Sorkin has also shifted the balance of the narrative’s core onto Atticus—and off of Scout as the narrator—leaving the task of narrative commentary and comic relief to the children: Scout Finch (Maeve Moynihan), her brother Jem (Justin Mark), and their curious friend Dill Harris (Steven Lee Johnson). The fact that Sorkin and Bartlett chose specifically to define the children’s role with adult actors changes everything about one’s expectations of dramatic timing, comedy, and the sophistication of dialog. Moynihan, appropriately cute, is delightfully strategic in this layering of feigned naïveté against events that would be outside a child’s perception. Mark has fleshed out his Jem with all the big-brother-ness the role allows. Interestingly, the character of Dill has been given a larger commentary role, and hence, a great opportunity for ironic comedy of which Johnson makes full and delightful use.
Going at the issue of systemic injustice from another angle is the role of Calpurnia, the Finch family housekeeper (a marvelous Jacqueline Williams). She has the task of forcing Atticus to examine the reality and morality of his positions and to realize that “crawling around in another person’s skin” to understand their beliefs may simply be impossible, even patronization by another name. After all, right is right, and wrong is wrong—and normalizing evil behavior is simply wrong.
Richard Thomas’ Atticus is a carefully measured character, but one capable of tremendous power and cutting intellect as a protagonist when confronted with an antagonist that practically defines, point by point, the ugly and monstrous depths humans are able to sink to while wallowing in pathetic desperation. Bob Ewell (Ted Koch) is that antagonist and the abusive father of Mayella (Mariah Lee), a young woman who has accused Tom Robinson (Yaegel T. Welch) of rape. Koch’s Ewell scapegoats everyone, including defense attorneys that have the temerity to challenge his racist and bigoted claims. Of course, Mayella’s scene on the witness stand in the rape trial is a classic, even without the benefit of a close-up. It’s a spewing, sputtering hate delivery combined with the body language of a cornered animal. Also in the courtroom, Welch’s scene on the stand in his own defense was, itself, a beautiful reveal of his tortured character.
The cast also includes Mary Badham in the role of the hateful elderly neighbor, Mrs. Dubose. Badham, of course, played the role of Scout in the 1962 Robert Mulligan film and received an Oscar nomination for it.
This touring production uses a condensed, travel-adjusted version of the Broadway set by Miriam Buether, in which a supposed “backstage” is simulated with rolling wagons and other pieces joining to suggest the various locations. Jennifer Tipton’s lighting design seemed simplified as well, although touring obviously demands compromises. That said, the atmosphere of To Kill A Mockingbird is soulfully intact—from the fluidity of the set changes, to the use of the ensemble, to the subtle use of Adam Guettel’s music that almost unconsciously suggests Southern church hymns throughout, until it finally is one in the finale.
It would be great if the messages of To Kill A Mockingbird were merely an entertaining look back into history. Sadly, though, characters like Tom Ewell and Mayella exist today, despite our self-serving contentions that we’ve come a long way. The evils of white nationalism are no longer a veiled threat lurking in shadows, but something that moves further and further into the light for every day that we allow it. For that reason alone, To Kill A Mockingbird deserves to be on everyone’s must-see list.
To Kill A Mockingbird
Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Downtown Knoxville
Tue, April 2, through Sunday, April 7, 8 performances
Tickets and Information
