An emotional exploration of love, friendship, purpose, and sex.

Suzanne Heathcote's stage adaptation of Zazuo Ishiguro's 2005 bestselling novel Never Let Me Go began running at the Rose Theatre in Kingston on 20 September.

Never Let Me Go is about a group of clones who are raised to be organ donors in a dystopian 1990s England.

Narrated by its protagonist, Kathy H., a former student at Hailsham, a seemingly idyllic boarding school where the clones are indoctrinated into believing their worth is tied to their creativity, the book and play follows the lives of the clones' experiences as they grow up, leave school, and confront the truth about their purpose.

The play has nine actors, three of whom played more than one character, with Nell Barlow (Kathy) as the leading actress, and I must say that this is the first play I have seen in a while where all the cast were exceptional; I can't applaud the enough on how well they played each character.

Nell Barlow played Kathy exceptionally well (Credit: Hugo Glendinning)

The stage setting was simplistic, yet it was clear at all times where each scene was set.

Heathcote's Never Let Me Go began with Barlow hugging her pillow while swaying along to the fictional Judy Bridgewater's song 'Never Let Me Go', which was recorded by Marisha Wallace, who does not appear on stage, purely for the show.

It then moved on to the play's present day in a hospital room, where Kathy, as an adult carer, meets her client Phillip (Maximus Evans).

Here Kathy begins to tell Phillip about her life at Hailsham in which she narrates throughout the majority of the first act, with the story interchanging between the past and present.

Initially, having not read the book, I thought that Kathy was an average carer, and that Phillip may have been a man admitted to a psychiatric ward given his extroverted personality and taste for alcohol.

However, I later came to realise that Kathy and Phillip are in fact both clones, created to donate their organs to ordinary people, and that Cathy is caring for Phillip as he prepares for an organ donation.

Maximus Evan's played Phillip (Credit: Hugo Glendinning)

Not being able to predict where the plot will go is what I loved most about the play, as it always left me guessing and kept us, the audience, on our toes.

I particularly loved the scenes with Phillip as Evans did an excellent job of ensuring that Phillip was an exuberant, likeable and funny character, and his personality juxtaposed with Kathy's more introverted and slightly dorky character led me to hope that they would become an item.

The first scene consists of Phillip persuading Kathy to tell him about the initially mysterious Hailsham, which again left me wondering what Hailsham is.

But we're soon given answers as Kathy agrees to tell Phillip about her childhood in the school, and so the interchanging between the past and present began.

The scenes at Hailsham were excellent, with present Kathy narrating her experiences and overlooking the Hailsham scenes as a sort of omniscient figure as her memories come to life.

In these scenes, we are introduced to Kathy's best friends Ruth and Tommy, brilliantly played by Matilda Bailes and Angus Imrie along with her other Hailsham peers, Laura (Princess Khumalo), Alfie (Tristan Waterson, and Hannah (Amelie Abbott), as well as Miss Emily (Susan Aderin) Miss Lucy, and Madam (both played by Emile Patry).

The clone kids at Hailsham (Credit: Hugo Glendinning)

By now we had been introduced to all the cast and again I can't praise them enough; I actually thought that Bailes, Imrie, Khumalo, Waterson, and Abbott were teenagers in real life.

In the Hailsham scenes, we learn about life in this secluded school and the lessons they learn, such as art, sport, and sex education, but also general life lessons like food shopping.

I particularly loved the sex education scene as it reminded me of my own sex ed classes many moons ago, with Miss Emily comically scaring the children into not having sex, and I believe that the rest of the audience would agree with me as the whole theatre erupted with laughter.

Susan Aderin played a very funny Miss Emily (Credit: Hugo Glendinning)

In these scenes, we also gain insight into Kathy's strong yet sometimes toxic relationship with best friend Ruth; a very relatable and authentic depiction of female friendship, and her potential romantic interest with Tommy, who ends up dating Ruth for the majority of the play, creating that classic will they/won't they scenario.

Ruth, played by the excellent Matilda Bailes, is Kathy's best friend (Credit: Hugo Glendinning)

We also see the Hailsham children coming into their more adult emotions; there's a big exploration of Kathy feeling what we would call "horny", but not knowing what the feeling is nor what to do with it.

I loved this as the play's exploration of sex was purely focused on Kathy's experiencing and thus overlooking the taboo of women having sexual needs.

Tommy is Kathy's love interest (Credit: Hugo Glendinning)

However, what resonated with me most from the Hailsham scenes and Kathy's narrative to Phillip is that Kathy viewed Hailsham as an oasis away from reality despite being robbed of the common pleasures of ordinary life.

Moreover, at Hailsham, there's the mysterious Madam, who for some reason seems scared of the kids and takes their artwork to sell.

This part of the plot is centre to the story, and we do not find out why Madam acts in the ways she does until the end- don't worry I won't spoil it for you.

Emile Patry played Madam (Credit: Hugo Glendinning)

Part way through the first act, we are taken to the "cottages" where Kathy, Ruth, Tommy, and Laura move to after leaving Hailsham and where they meet clone couple Chrissi and Rodney (Abbott Waterson).

Here we see an authentic portrayal of the trials and tribulations we all face in both our platonic and romantic relationships and delve deeper into the mystery of Madam and the clones' artwork.

We meet clone lovers Chrissi and Rodney at the cottages (Credit Hugo Glendinning)

Despite the complex and somewhat emotional exploration of relationships, these scenes were also filled with comedy; something I really loved about the play, one moment I could be on the verge of tears, and the next I could be laughing.

This rollercoaster of emotions carries on throughout, as does the love for Kathy, but I must say whilst the mystery was solved by the end, I was wiping away my tears.

Suzanne Heathcote's adaptation of Never Let Me Go left me feeling humbled, grateful for having my own organs, and thinking about my own experiences.

It was an excellent way to over come my midweek burnout (I saw the play yesterday, Wednesday 25 September) and led me to order the book from Amazon as soon as I got home- it's been on my reading list for ages, I just haven't got round to it yet.

So now I'm super excited to see how the play matches to the book, though I'm sure, after seeing the play, that is an excellent adaptation.

The stage adaptation of Never Let Me Go is running at the Rose Theatre until 12 October before moving to Royal & Derngate, Malvern theatres, Bristol's Old Vic, and Chichester Festival Theatre through late November.

You can still get tickets for the Rose Theatre's shows here.