When Malorie Blackman’s novel Pig Heart Boy was first published in 1999, it was essentially speculative fiction. Though the beloved Brit YA author wrote it after reading an article about the likelihood that humans would receive pig heart transplants in the future, the first one didn’t actually happen until 2022.
So this is good timing for a fresh adaptation of the book. The story of Cameron, a 13-year-old schoolboy given a lifesaving but very complicated transplant – both surgically and emotionally – feels less conceptually goofy than it did a quarter century ago, now that there’s more of a sense it could actually happen.
Okay, it probably wouldn’t happen to a random British school kid, but Winsome Pinnock’s adaption feels that bit more punchy for it. Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu’s hugely enjoyable production for ages nine to 13 is not gritty naturalism, not least because of Paul Wills’s superb set, a multilevel series of TV screens attached by glowing cables that looks like a gigantic techno-organic heart.
But it feels both giddy and grounded. The opening scenes show Immanuel Yeboah’s affable Cameron playing around with his schoolfriends – their extreme care for him and insistence he not exert his damaged heart is touching, albeit understandably frustrating for him.
There’s a similar sense of care to the depiction of his parents’ relationship, which is on the rocks, but not in an unpleasant way - they are simply falling apart under the stress and responsibility of raising a child who is effectively dying.
If all this sounds full on for a kids play then don’t worry, it does get quite silly. Cameron’s dad hooks him up with eccentric American surgeon Dr Bryce, who in turn introduces him to Trudy, the genetically modified pig whose heart he’ll be taking - Cameron daydreams about the beast getting cross with him. After his story is leaked to the tabloid press, Cameron becomes a minor celebrity and starts to behave obnoxiously towards his hitherto-supportive schoolmates, pushing his new organ to its limits and beyond.
Ultimately it’s a sad story about being a regular child with a cruelly irregular expected lifespan, cleverly wrapped up in larky diversions and a bit of deftly scrutinised scientific hope. A couple of interactive moments allowed the schools audience I saw it with to let off some noisy steam, but for the most part they were held rapt for 90 interval-free minutes, which is more than I can say for plenty of adult audiences.
Part of this, I think, is that it’s a show that delivers a blockbuster vibe on a kids’s show budget - a hard-working cast takes on several roles each, and aside from looking really cool, the video screens in Wills’s set and Andrew Exeter’s bold lighting means it frequently feels like a set-change has taken place. It’s only around until the end of half-term - before it heads out on national tour - but if you’re looking for something to occupy a tween over the hols then they should be in hog heaven with Pig Heart Boy.