The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: a ‘life-affirming’ drama

The RSC’s “inspiring” new musical is based on William Kamkwamba’s bestselling memoir, which recounts how – as a boy in Malawi – he built a wind turbine to save his village from drought.

A bookish teenager who defied philistinism at home and at school, William has shades of Roald Dahl’s “Matilda”, and even of “Billy Elliot”, said Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph.

But “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” is an understated show, “earthier and simpler” than those mega-hits. In the first half, it gets a bit bogged down, as our “sweet-natured” hero ploughs on with his project – tinkering with transistors and marvelling at the workings of bicycle dynamos – despite the scoffing of his family and the taunts of his peers.

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But after the interval, as drought takes hold, the evening starts to gain momentum. This “warm, West End-bound” show, with its “rousing songs” and lithe dancing, celebrates a “remarkable feat, the power of dreams and the value of knowledge”.

Kamkwamba’s story has been told before, said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian – in the book, in Chiwetel Ejiofor’s 2019 film, and in Kamkwamba’s much-watched Ted Talk. But this musical “is its own distinct thing”.

Written by Tim Sutton and Richy Hughes, it’s “an exuberant creation”, with vivid costumes and “a gorgeous grass-roofed set”. There is a romantic storyline, and plenty of humour to leaven the tale’s hard edge; but it remains “insistently feel-good” even when hunger and famine arrive – as if no one dared diverge from the high mood.

And while the music features “superb percussion”, there are rather too many unmemorable numbers. This is “life-affirming” drama, “but it does not get you in the gut, or squeeze the heart”.

Part of the problem, said Clive Davis in The Times, is that William “often seems a bystander in his own story”. With multiple subplots and various villagers jostling for attention, he doesn’t quite come into focus. It is a “well-meaning” production, blessed by some fine performances, but it never quite takes flight.