Part of the problem with The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is that the name gives away the ending. I mean, I don’t think anyone watching a musical based on the true story of a young Malawian boy who attempted to build a DIY wind turbine to save his village from a drought is expecting the story to end in doom and gloom. But I think it’s fair to say that just because William Kamkwamba did a genuinely astonishing thing aged 13, it doesn’t mean that his story provides enough material for a pitch-perfect 2.5-hour musical.
In fairness, there is probably a more exciting way to do this, but it would presumably involve taking a lot of artistic liberties, and deviating from the narrative as set out by Kamkwamba’s original book and the Chiwetel Ejiofor 2019 film adaptation. Unfortunately, Richy Hughes’ text really labours it, trundling to an outcome that is never at any point in doubt when it might have worked better either really trying to get inside protagonist William’s head, or else simply being an hour shorter.
Moaning about all this does sell Lynette Linton’s genuinely delightful RSC production short. Debuting earlier this year at the smaller Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, this musical was always intended for a more intimate space, and the in-the-round @sohoplace is the most intimate space in the West End. It’s particularly lovely how – rather than starting with a bang – it just kind of sneaks up on you, the cast (playing Malawian villagers) cheerily wandering on and chatting to the front rows for a full five minutes, a puppet chicken clucking away merrily.
Frankie Bradshaw’s warm village set is a treat. And Tim Sutton’s songs are solid too: I’m not going to embarrass myself trying to position myself as an expert on Malawian and African music (though I’ve listened to some highlife in my time, I’ll have you know), but these aren’t just generic showtunes: they combine polyrhythms, vocal harmonies and musical styles cribbed from the continent with some rock solid melodies.
But there is simply no avoiding the fact that Hughes’ plot feels like it takes an incredibly long, tangent-filled time to wait for young William (played by winsome understudy Alex Okoampa when I saw it) to come to the conclusion he needs to build a turbine (and then to finally build one).
Also even though Kamkwamba fully signed off this adaptation, there were moments when I questioned the appropriateness of a Brit creative team depicting smiling, starving Africans singing uplifting songs in accented English as they implemented William’s plan. I don’t want to be holier-than-thou, but I think maybe the forced jollity of the musical theatre medium is just inherently a bit of a blunt instrument for a group of Westerners to use to tell an African story sensitively.
It’s a visually attractive musical with decent songs and modest aims. At the same time, I wonder if some of the problems with it have gone unaddressed precisely because it’s on the small side and not getting the full RSC Matilda/My Neighbour Totoro works. Pleasant, but flawed.
