After an outstanding season last year filled with thought-provoking, inquisitive and often genre-defying works, Belvoir St Theatre’s 2025 season has felt a little light in comparison. Grief is the Thing with Feathers is the latest in their season, with the production taking on a novel that is part poem and part allegory. 

The story deals with a father, played by Toby Schmitz, has to help his children (Philip Lynch and Fraser Morrison) confront the sudden death of their mother. However, the father, who is a huge fan of Ted Hughes’ poetry, becomes burdened by a crow, which becomes a manifestation of his grief. He fights with the crow for the duration of the production as he tells stories from his life, before eventually overcoming it as he begins to move on. 

The pacing of the show is erratic and reflective of the father’s grief, constantly moving between allegorical crow scenes and the real world. Through this, the audience gets a sense of the tragedy and its effects on everyone in the production. 

The play is defined by Schmitz’s superb acting, both as the father and as the crow and he really carries the play. His performance is defiant but also restrained as necessary and he really shows off his acting depth in what is a difficult role. Lynch and Morrison are also strong however, it felt as though their growth could have been conveyed a little more, with the portrayals of their younger years feeling a little underdeveloped. 

The story itself is perhaps a little too focussed on Ted Hughes, which takes away from the emotion (and the comedy) of the story to some extent. For Hughes fans, it may feel like a worthy tribute but it does risk pulling focus at times. 

The technical elements of the production are well handled with cellist Freya Schack-Arnott performing a lovely score which balances the play quite well and video designer Craig Wilkinson and illustrator Jon Weber have assembled a series of fantastic graphics that add to the story and help to develop what is on stage. With such a strong cast and production crew, it is a shame that the story somewhat lets the production down. There is ultimately a feeling of hollowness at the end, with no real meaning able to be drawn. It feels as though the text bounces between tragedy and comedy, and the real and the surreal a little too often so the audience can struggle to draw the meaning that the text desires. 

In some ways, the shifting of forms and chronology would suggest that the novel would work very well on the stage. However, ultimately, the production feels a little stilted and loses the audiences in points, requiring them to do a lot of the work themselves to find and derive meaning from the work. For many in the audience, they were able to derive this meaning leading to a satisfying and emotional performance. However, as a text itself, it is quite difficult for the audience, meaning that experiences of the production will certainly be variable. 

Rating: ★★★

Grief is the Thing With Feathers plays at the Belvoir St Theatre until 24^th August. For more information, click here.

All photo credits: Brett Boardman