In the Mouth of the Wolf review

“Brother. Father. Teacher. Spy.” The enticing publicity for Simon Reade’s new adaptation of this novel, by Michael Morpurgo, of family conflict and wartime derring-do neatly highlights a key theme: ordinary people achieving extraordinary feats of bravery. It’s based on the true story of the brothers of Murpurgo’s own half-Belgian mother during the Second World War – Pieter, an actor who joined the RAF to fight fascism, and Francis, a staunch pacifist and teacher on “the front line” of education. After his younger brother’s death in action, Francis became a prominent leader of the SOE in France, conducting lethal operations behind enemy lines.

Philip Wilson directs a skilled cast with pace and flair, charging through 27 scenes, with two of the three-strong cast playing several characters each. It takes a while to warm to these thoroughly decent if somewhat stiff-upper-lipped individuals from a bygone era, but John Hastings increasingly engages in his single role as the earnestly ethical Francis, ever ready with a Shakespeare quote to deepen a debate, and mocked by adults and schoolchildren alike for his unusual height and enormous feet.

Early childhood scenes between Francis and Shaun McCourt’s intrepid Pieter are a little unconvincing owing to Hastings’ towering stature, but tellingly convey the brothers’ innate differences as, pretending to ward off wolves in the forest, Pieter advocates brandishing a large stick, while Francis suggests clapping hands to scare the imaginary foe away. Their exchanges become testier in young adulthood, when Pieter, already an upcoming actor in Stratford-upon-Avon, informs Francis that he is signing up to fight Hitler as “you can’t go on making make-believe when so much is at stake”. Francis, as a “conchie”, is dispatched to a Lincolnshire farm where he meets his future, long-suffering wife (the versatile Helena Antoniou), and – in a foreshadowing of the violence demanded by his future espionage activities – is forced by necessity to slaughter a goose.

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