She wrote the novel Whistle Down the Wind (1961), co-wrote the screenplay and story of Sky West and Crooked (1966) (released as Gypsy Girl in the United States) and wrote additional dialogue for Scott of the Antarctic (1948). Mary Hayley Bell wrote four plays: Men in Shadow (1942), Angel (1947), Duet for Two Hands (1945) and The Uninvited Guest (1953). They had three children together: Juliet Mills (b. That marriage lasted 64 years until his death on April 23, 2005. She married actor John Mills in London on January 16, 1941. She also appeared in the films Vintage Wine (1938) and The Shrike (1955). Mary Hayley Bell appeared on the Broadway stage in Volpone in April, 1928 and in The Shrike in 1958. The family later moved to Tientsin, China (now Tianjin). A hectic revivalist meeting promises snake-handling, but it’s a serpentine Tripolino who personifies the coils of sin as the production closes in on its fiery end.Īt the Watermill theatre, Newbury, until 10 September.Mary Hayley Bell was born in Shanghai, China where her father served in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. They endure difficulty (one unconsoling number is called It Just Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This) while they wait on revelations.

The songs include No Matter What, later a hit for Boyzone, and the standout in a strong ensemble is recent graduate Chrissie Bhima, belting and limber in cat-eye glasses, as a woman yearning to break free.Īpocalyptic language runs through the hardscrabble community’s veins: faith liberates and hobbles them in equal measure. They press in on intimate scenes – strings and woodwind keeping up a prying tremolo – and circle round the fugitive.

The cast double as musicians, making for a crowded stage. The man plays on Swallow’s naive desire for transformation: “You can help me with the second coming.”Įven these tense conversations aren’t private in Tom Jackson Greaves’ busy, physically fluid production. This isn’t wholly plausible – they see his injuries as stigmata – but their secret gives the kids a jolt of agency. He’s a murderer dodging a manhunt, but she and the local children take him for Jesus.

Grief fills their lives, until teenage Swallow (sweet-voiced Lydia White) discovers the fugitive (inked and grimy Robert Tripolino). The barn belongs to a family reeling from a mother’s death.

Whistle down the wind book