To Kill a Mockingbird

 Curve, Leicester

28^th October, 2025

Following a West End run, Bartlett Sher’s acclaimed Broadway production of Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s 1960 classic novel comes to Leicester as part of its UK tour.

“Our darkest days are always followed by our finest hours”

…So says Scout, our narrator and the daughter to Atticus Finch, the lawyer trying to prove the innocence of a black man wrongly accused of rape. But whilst Sorkin faithfully keeps the setting in 1930s Alabama, the above line has a searing prescience and timeliness. It’s also been used before by Sorkin. The line pops up in different iterations in his HBO series The Newsroom starring Jeff Daniels (who originated the role of Finch on Broadway in 2018) and in a personal letter the writer wrote to his daughter following the first election of President Donald Trump, in 2016. The line resurfaces throughout Sorkin’s writing just as America’s darkest days themselves seem to return.

The book is a syllabus staple but even those unfamiliar with Lee’s novel probably know the outline of the plot, which is remains intact in its transition to the stage. In the small town of Maycomb, Tom Robinson is accused of taking advantage of and beating a local girl despite there being proof he couldn’t have done it. Her father, a racist and member of the KKK, leads the charge against Tom. It is Atticus Finch, all round nice guy and not, by trade, a criminal defence lawyer, who is persuaded to represent Joe to do the right thing for him and indeed the law itself. We see this through the lens of his children Scout and Gem and their friend Dill (played respectively by Anna Munden, Gabriel Scott and Dylan Malyn, all brilliant). The decision to cast adult actors in this production is a smart one. Their narration carries the show and the actors strike the right balance childhood innocence and wiser-than-their-years shrewdness: Scout will typically tell the audience one thing before correcting herself after her brother disagrees followed by Dill chipping in with some hilarious commentary of his own. As they’re exposed to the reality of injustice and the complexities of the 1930s American South, their childlike understanding of human nature is tainted. Innocence and injustice, then, are key themes in To Kill a Mockingbird, and as well as come characters’ violent outbursts of racism, it’s striking that Sorkin and Sher bring to the fore many sympathetic characters who are innocent, marginalised individuals in society. One of the criticisms now given to Mockingbird is that Finch is a typical white saviour whose romanticised plan of saving Tom naively exists to test the machinations of law and to advance his understanding of racism in that time and place. This production isn’t innocent in correcting that, but Sorkin cleverly expands the role of Finch’s maid (who’s like a sister to him) to give a voice to that criticism.

Sher’s production is paced like a thriller, and this is a hallmark of Sorkin’s adaptation. One of the key structural decisions he’s made is to weave the courtroom scenes throughout. This is no surprise given he’s a heavyweight at courtroom dramas such as in films like A Few Good Men and The Trial of the Chicago 7. It gives the play a sense of weight and urgency even during scenes set on the porch and around sleepy Maycomb. The courtroom scenes, in particular, are pin-drop theatre and Sorkin’s dialogue and control of the audience’s attention is masterly. Played out on Miriam Buether’s atmospheric set, most of the set pieces are wheeled or flown in which neatly reflects the narration recounting the story.

It’s thrilling to see a play peopled with such a large cast, brimming with talent. Richard Coyle as Atticus Finch is excellent: in a cream suit (costumes by Ann Roth), he’s dependable, amiable, approachable but with the right air of authority. Munden, Scott and Malyn, with their honeyed southern accents, have a warm rapport with each other and the audience (Munden in particular is very impressive). Evie Hargreaves as the victim, whose interrogation in the court comes towards the climax on the first act, is also very watchable: twitching as she sinks in her chair in the dock, her eyes of full fear and scepticism that’s been instilled in her by her dad (Oscar Pearce). But this is an ensemble piece and something could be written about each of the actor’s performances. Even the non-verbal reactions the jury give are detailed, truthful and individual, such is the care and attention that Sher has imbued in his cast.

There’s a reason this production is the highest grossing American play in Broadway history. Its story is a searing dramatization of racial injustice in America which is still relevant today, but it’s also suspensefully and glossily told in a first-rate staging.

To Kill a Mockingbird plays at Curve, Leicester until 1^st November as part of a UK tour. For further information, please visit https://www.curveonline.co.uk/whats-on/shows/to-kill-a-mockingbird/

Richard Coyle (Atticus Finch) Anna Munden (Scout Finch) in To Kill A Mockingbird. Photo by Johan Persson