The first of Thomas Hardy’s Wessex novels, Under the Greenwood Tree has a reputation as one of the gentler (and less existentially morose) of his works, chronicling as it does a simple romance alongside some rustic hijinks.

Tamsin Kennard’s adaptation, under the direction of Bryn Holding, trims out some of the peripheral details to deliver a concise and poignant summation of the book. With the excision of a few tertiary characters and minor plots, this staging arguably puts the romance between Dick Dewey (Edem-Ita) and the new village schoolmistress Fancy Day (Ruth Page) in sharper focus than the book itself, which was in some respects a lightly comic pastoral piece with a love story attached.

The two halves of the work complement each other very well. The lovebirds’ sincere and dithering flirtations are endearing but also generate eye-rolling and consternation from other characters, egging on the amusing reflections of the townsfolk on life and love. Either element on its own would be insubstantial but together there’s a variety of tone and a well-honed pacing to the piece.

The surrounding cast (played solely by Danann McAleer and Kathy Sobey in this four-hander) are not simply a source of whimsical asides though. Under the Greenwood Tree dramatizes a small community struggling with social changes as a microcosm of society at large. Though the stakes of the church choir being supplanted by Fancy’s organ-playing seem small, they represent people feeling impinged upon by new cultural and technological principles from further afield. There’s an ambivalence to the process as these developments are neither innately positive nor negative. Fancy is a boon to the schoolhouse and captures Dick’s affections but her presence is disruptive; the new Parson Maybold is likewise simply pushing for the musical and spiritual uprightness of the community but his methods are tainted by an ill-advised obsession with Fancy.

With strong performances both in acting and on-stage musical accompaniment, which one has come to expect from Hammerpuzzle’s collaborations with the Everyman, Under the Greenwood Tree is a reflective and nuanced Christmas play, for those seeking something more subdued than the bombast of the panto.    ★★★★★   Fenton Coulthurst   11th December 2019