whistle down the wind by mary hayley bell

Then a man she believes could be the saviour of her life enters her world. At 15, she is becoming a woman, but has no female role model in her life due to the death of her mother. It is the story of Swallow that dominates proceedings. Most of the townsfolk treat the black members of their community as equals, though a mixed race relationship is frowned upon, and the town’s sheriff takes every opportunity he can to put black community members in their place. The altered setting also allows the concerns of the story to stray into the area of race.

While townsfolk and visiting religious factions talk of testing themselves against the devil, it is the children who gather unconditionally around a man they believe to be Jesus. The original story was set in Sussex, but Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical has moved the action to bible-belt America, highlighting the concern for religion within Bell’s tale. Whistle Down The Wind started life as a children’s story, written by Mary Hayley Bell in the 1950s. Matthew Amer attended the press night of Whistle Down The Wind, which is being staged at the Palace theatre. While the adults of the small town search for a recently escaped murderer, the community’s children vow to help and protect ‘Jesus’ as much as they can.

When she asks who he is, his first reaction is to exclaim “Jesus Christ”, and it is as if her prayers have been answered. In the Deep South of America, 15-year-old Swallow finds a man hidden and bleeding in her father’s barn.

Whistle down the wind by mary hayley bell