ORIGINALLY written for TV and first screened in 1979, Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills is still very much relevant today.

Set in 1943 Blue Remembered Hills reflects similar themes to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies in that it focuses on human nature’s acts of brutality, opening the eyes of the audience to the fact that innocence in youth may be just a hopeful illusion.

At first sight this appears to be a group of seven year olds innocently playing around, but when we meet Donald (played by Adrian Grove) we discover the true horrors he faces.

His father is a prisoner of war and his mother physically abuses him, leading to him hiding out in a barn rather than face home, but he is not safe from his bullying peers; Raymond, John, Angela, Audrey, Willie and Peter whose cruelty lead to his horrific and untimely death.

With a play just an hour in length, time is against any writer to get the audience to bond with the characters, but Donald's abuse and his tragic end makes the hardest of hearts shatter.

For adults to portray children it is a difficult feat, but the cast did what Dennis Potter wanted; portraying their seven year old characters effortlessly and Adrian Grove's performance of victim Donald was heart-wrenching and brought tears to my eyes.