Adrian Rawlins Debuts Directorial Effort with ‘The Night Season’

Adrian Rawlins is best known in the Harry Potter fandom as James Potter, the father Harry never knew but aspires to be. In his brief appearances in the film series, he exudes strength, steadfastness, joy, and humor. It takes great skill to fill the shoes of such an important character, and so well, when by the very nature of the story, there is precious little time to do it.

Though Rawlins also brought that subtle depth to many other roles over the years, he now makes his directorial debut with The Night Season, which The Stage calls “a funny, tender revival.” And it is that deftness of sensibility which likely enables the play to succeed where others might not.

The review elaborates:

“As a visual introduction to the characters of Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s family drama, the Night Season, it’s spot-on. They’re a bunch of charming misfits, but ones who, under Adrian Rawlins’ direction, avoid straying into sentimentality.”

The cast includes Alice Beaumont, Evie Guttridge, Clive Kneller, Bettine MacKenzie, Josh Meredith, Lynne Verrall, Gabriel Winter. Verrall is seen above as the grandmother of the family, Lily. She’s either not quite all there or maddeningly so–the viewer can never tell which–but she anchors the drama delightfully. According to The Stage:

“[Her] performance is spooky. There’s a conviction in her eyes which makes the character’s bizarre utterances – not least that married men ‘smell of rubber’ – seem as unsettling as they are funny. There’s much about the production which causes shivers – in a positive sense – as well as smiles.”

The review goes on to suggest that this production is a good indication of things to come as Rawlins, hopefully, continues to stretch himself with future forays into theatre and direction. You can view The Night Season at the East Riding Theatre in Beverley. The play began its run March 2nd and continues through March 25th.

For The Stage’s full coverage Rawlins’ debut effort, read here.