THEATRE REVIEW: Brideshead Revisited - at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Tuesday, May 31 to Saturday, June 4, 2016.

THIS was not so much a ‘revisiting’ but rather a homecoming for Evelyn Waugh’s classic novel - which owes a large slice of its inspiration to Madresfield Court, situated just a couple of miles out of Malvern.

Although Castle Howard is very much in the nation’s psyche as Brideshead thanks to the original television series, Waugh’s ‘revisited’ owes considerable gratitude to Madresfield. He did stay there and his 1930s-based story was influenced by and is inexorably linked to the home and the family occupying it at that time. He also visited Castle Howard in the late 1930s.

His fictional account provides a heady mix of wealth and privilege, along with a colourful and hedonistic lifestyle in which there is quite an element of truth.

Here Bryony Lavery’s adaptation brings his characters of yesteryear to life through the vivid memories of an Army officer who finds himself returning to a stately home and its Catholic chapel which he instantly recognises.

Religion, along with great whiffs of nostalgia, glimpses of a lifestyle that has all but evaporated from many a country seat and the inevitability that not even oodles of money or faith can provide the answers to everything. What is the past is gone and like the vibrancy of youth it cannot be revived or recaptured no matter what might be wished.

Designer Sara Perks works a small miracle on stage by utilising a succession of cleverly lit sliding panels and projected images to provide the impression of a vast country pile and its surrounding acres of fields and woodland, along with visits to a hospital ward and a drinking den in far off Morocco.

Lavery’s adaptation works to a degree but it fell a shade short of hitting the hotspots Waugh’s novel provides. Meanwhile director Damian Cruden drew the best out of the cast which includes several top notch performances - particularly Shuna Snow as she plays three male roles, the eccentric Bridey Flyte, Kurt - a drug-addled German, and Rex Mottram.

The story centres around a would-be artist, Charles Ryder - perfectly executed by Brian Ferguson who is on stage throughout. He gets drawn into the fabulously rich Flytes’ family circle - befriended at Oxford in bizarre circumstances by Sebastian Flyte (a stylish and extrovert performance from Christopher Simpson) whose wild life-style drifts into a downward spiral of debauchery.

Their friendship persists in spite of Sebastian’s cruel taunts and behaviour. The homosexual nature of their friendship, unlike the novel, is also made patently obvious. There was a chemistry when the two were together on stage, but unfortunately we saw very little of Seb after the interval as Ryder reminisced.

It would have been good too to see more of Waugh’s two main female characters, Lady Marchmain (Caroline Harker) and Julia Flyte (Rosie Hilal) who would surely have held more sway and influence in the household than was evident.

But one female who definitely caught the eye in this English Touring Theatre and York Theatre Royal co-production was Kiran Sonia Sawar, as the effervescent Cordelia Flyte. Someone it should be worth noting for the future.

This is an evocative tale that is more about a place than people. A steady plod at first, there is a considerable lift to the proceedings post-interval.

It does have a charm of its own which helps to make it an engaging production overall.