Classic tale highlights how "we are failing our young men" - Chichester stage - video Dailymotion

SussexWorld

Alfie Jallow offers Piggy as reason and as civilisation in Chichester Festival Theatre’s new production of William Golding's Lord of the Flies, adapted for the stage by Nigel Williams (Friday, September 19-Saturday, October 11).

Transcript

00:00Good morning. My name is Phil Hewitt, group arts editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely to

00:06speak to Alfie Jellot this morning. Alfie, you are Piggy in The Lord of the Flies, which

00:11is coming to Chisholm Festival Theatre before too long. And as Piggy, it means that you

00:15have a pretty ropey time of it, don't you, in this tale of these boys who are stranded

00:20on a desert island and do not exactly behave terribly well, do they? You've got it coming

00:25for you, haven't you, really? I do, I do, bless him. How do you see him? How do you see

00:31Piggy then? I feel like traditionally Piggy has been seen as a bit of a wet wipe, you

00:38know, as a bit mopey, a bit whiny, a little bit annoying, a little bit, a lot annoying,

00:45I think. And that's something that I'm really trying to change. So how I see him is full

00:52of the charm, intelligent. He's a fighter, he's a scrapper, he's a working class lad amongst

01:02all these private school boys all around him. And he's trying to find his way in this world

01:08while staying true and humble and honest and diplomatic.

01:15You see your task as persuading right from the outset, you've got to persuade the audience

01:21that you're not the wet wipe.

01:23Exactly. Yeah, absolutely. So I am, I'm trying to give him, I guess, in a way, like a level

01:29of like coolness about him, trying to make him charming. I'm really trying to get the audience

01:37to fall in love with him for all of the right reasons.

01:43However much you manage to persuade us to fall in love with you, you're still going to have

01:47a pretty ropey time on the island as Piggy, aren't you?

01:51I do. Yeah, yeah. I don't have an easy time and I don't make it easy for myself, you know,

01:56amongst all of Piggy's beautiful qualities. He's also pretty selfish, you know, he's also,

02:02you know, he signs himself up for isolation, to tell you the truth, and that ability to

02:10be like boxed as other. And due to that, he struggles a lot within getting on with the

02:20boys, relationships, I think navigating change, being active within like what is being unravelled

02:32within the play. And due to that, he isolates himself and does struggle. And then I won't

02:39spoil the ending.

02:40No, no, no, do not say a word. But the fact is, I mean, it's a tale of brutality, isn't

02:47it? It's a tale of murder, all sorts of ghastly things. What's it all about then? Is it just

02:51a really dim view of humanity, do you think? Or what's it said to us?

02:56I don't think it is. I mean, I think it does include that. But I think at the moment, if

03:04anything, it is a reflection. And I, scarily, within the way that the world's going, is this

03:15really too hard to comprehend as a possible reality, even in 2025. You know, I think we're

03:26holding up a mirror to society, which is what all great and wonderful theatre does. This

03:31is a great and wonderful piece of theatre. And I think this is an opportunity for us to

03:40see this, register that yes, okay, this, we're basing this in the 50s. But actually, how

03:48far have we come? What are our young men currently doing? How are we failing as a nation, as a

03:57society? How are we failing young men? And how do we save them? How do we change that? And

04:04I think all of that comes from those higher up, you know, there's a beautiful line within

04:13towards the end of the play. And it's, which is better law and rescue or hunting and breaking

04:20things up to have rules and agree or to hunt and kill like a pack of savages. And sorry,

04:27I haven't warmed up to that. But that, that, that, that is the, that is the, that is the

04:34quote. And I think that there alone, really, really summarises.

04:40You make it so fascinating. It's going to be exhilarating theatre. And I look forward to

04:44seeing your charm on that stage. Thank you ever so much. And really lovely to speak to

04:50you. Thank you. It's been so lovely to speak to you, Phil. Take care.

04:53Thanks a lot.

Classic tale highlights how "we are failing our young men" - Chichester stage

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