A strange and disturbing dystopian world unfurls in this gripping and unsettling thriller.
Set on an English farm at some unspecified time, the troubled land is beset by a hidden threat with the Foxfinders charged with leading the fight against them.
When farmers Samuel and Judith (played by Gavin Bromley and Katie Cary) fail to meet their crop quota, Foxfinder William (John Dawson) is sent to investigate, and quiz them and neighbouring farmers Sarah (Loretta Askew) and her unseen husband Abe.
Dawson’s costume is every inch the Witchfinder and there is the same twisted logic in his quasi-religious pronouncements. In this world the fox is a magical, evil creature with powers to corrupt. The fact a fox has not been seen is to be expected because of its sly nature, making its absence proof of its presence. Denial equals collaboration; the system brooks no dissent.
Dawson’s delivery is controlled and stern when going about his work, but he quivers when alone with his thoughts and his guilt. Cary and Bromley utterly convince: her increasingly concerned at his need to believe in the fiction being created around them; him turning from taciturn and caustic to a brutal, earnest, desperate fervour. Askew supports well, her character a conflicted voice of reason.
Phil Williamson’s set fashions a farmhouse from pallets, meshing neatly with Dean Weston and Tom Porteuous’ sound and lighting to create unsettling transitions between scenes.
Stephen Keyworth’s direction treats the scenario as realistic rather than allegorical, with an almost pedestrian reality allowing Dawn King’s script to be even more menacing. While King’s precise story is inventive, there are familiar elements from other dystopian tales and the twists are less of a surprise than they might be.
Treated as a satire it is perhaps a little obvious, treated as a dark drama it is a captivating two hours.
- Foxfinder continues at Sewell Barn Theatre, Norwich until 7 June 2025.
