Grief is the thing with feathers @ The Barbican

Max Porter’s book ‘Grief is the thing with feathers’ came out 3/4 years ago, I ended up buying it as it came through as a recommendation on Waterstones newsletter (yes they do work!). Anyway I lent the book to a few people because it was such a different and emotional read.

Now it is a play, of which my friend managed to get tickets to, because Cillian Murphy is hot property right now (I have never seen Peaky Blinders).

I was interested to see how they would adapt to stage because its not a novel, its not poetry its a journey through a man’s grief with his children.

And it was beautifully done, Cillian Murphy plays the dad and the crow, the crow a manifestation of his grief, a total assault on the senses, noise that goes on a bit too long, disorientating lighting, all beautiful representations of grief.

Also the physical performance Cillian puts in leaves you sitting there going ‘how did he do that?’

If you are going to see it before its run ends next week you are in for a treat, if you haven’t been able to get tickets (its sold out) then do buy the book, you will read it in an hour and it will stay with you for a very long time.