Inspired by the famous poem written by AE Housman, Blue Remembered Hills explores memories of childhood and the effect of the environment on personal development.
By Angie Millard
It investigates the characteristics which emerge and may finally shape the adult. As such it is subjective, while opinions after the passing time become generalised, Housman adopts a forensic approach.
Watching the play, it struck me that possibly the purpose of the exercise is to make the audience regress and form judgments as they try to make sense of their life experiences or maybe Potter just wanted us to sit back and enjoy the trip!
It is set during World War Two. When the play opens, seven children are playing out in the countryside. Free of the censure of adults we see them struggle to fit in with a social pattern which they already understand, and we watch them play out a cruel game which destroys the outsider in the group: Donald (Thom Feeney).
Peter (Rich Wareham) and Willie (Mark Simmonds) enter. They are playing aimlessly at being fighter jets and it soon becomes clear that Peter is a bully and an aspiring leader while Willie must fit in as a henchman.
John (Andrew Wren) and Raymond (Jon Cook) soon join them, and we see a more complex set of relationships develop. At this point in the play, I was still struggling to accept that they were children. The archaic West country dialect and physical acting seemed exaggerated and only John began to demonstrate that difficult mixture of childishness and the inner man.
As the show progressed, he captured this superbly and I accepted him without question. The other boys wavered but became convincing in moments of exposure such as when Peter forgot his bravado and admitted to Donald that his mum was worried about Donald’s chaotic homelife and had thought of taking him in, or when Raymond tried to be part of things but caused ridicule through his stammer. The scene where the gang kills a squirrel gave us more insight into the real characters of the children as individuals and I was drawn in.
The girls, Angela (Victoria Delaney) and Audrey (Jess Muray), though stereotypical as characters, matched each other well. Angela with her beautiful yellow ribbons, pristine white socks and patent leather shoes, reminded me of the girls I had admired as a child, and I sympathised with Audrey’s plaintive wishes to be Angela’s best friend.
Playing House with them was Donald (Thom Feeney), tormented by the nickname Donald Duck and clearly an outsider. He was fascinated by fire and had matches which he couldn’t help but light. His performance was entirely convincing, and I felt moved by it.
I also loved to watch Angela (as mother to her baby doll) performing actions she had observed elsewhere. Audrey also was convincing, but I would have liked to see a bit more tomboy/gender confusion.
The set was designed and cleverly constructed by Richard Hampton and worked brilliantly.
The running time of 70 minutes was perfect for this play and the Director, Fleur Hebditch, made excellent use of the performance space. Entrances and audience exits added dimension to the piece. She speaks of an attachment to the play, and this is clearly shown in her use of detail and focus.
It is an interesting play, and we should be pleased that Hebditch was given the opportunity to re-examine it.
Blue Remembered Hills is being performed at York Theatre Royal until 28 February 2026.