Action
to
the
Word
at
the
New Wolsey Studio Ipswich
27.09.2013
Anthony
Burgess was not happy about the way his seminal novel transferred to
the screen. The amoral adolescent gang-lads seemed much more vivid,
more threatening, more iconic.
Whatever
would he have made of this amazingly physical re-working of that 1952
tale [based on his own stage version], with ten young men giving
energetic expression to the homoerotic dystopia extrapolated from the
original story.
There's
much
he
would
recognize.
Plenty
of
Ludwig
Van,
sonata
as
well
as
symphony,
sharing
the
soundtrack
with
David
Bowie,
The
Scissor
Sisters,
Eurythmics,
Queen
and
Placebo
[Battle
for
the
Sun].
The
moloko
– the
spiked
milk
which
is
the
recreational
drug
of
choice
for
young
Alex
and
his
friends
the
Droogs.
Not
forgetting
the
Nadsat,
a
crazy,
casual
Russian-inspired
patois,
heightened
at
times
with
cod
Shakespearean
formality.
And
of
course
the
ultraviolence,
much
of
it
glamorously
choreographed
by
director
Alexandra
Spencer-Jones.
Adam
Search
is
a
fine,
charismatic
Alex:
cocky,
depraved,
insolent.
A
suitable
case
for
the
Ludovico
treatment,
aversion
therapy
with
Beethoven
as
backing
track.
And
cured
he
is,
nauseated
by
sex
and
violence,
robbed
of
the
freedom
to
choose,
unable
to
respond
to
the
temptations
paraded
before
him,
despised
and
rejected
by
family
and
friends,
tempted
to
suicide.
The
ending
– Burgess's
famous
Chapter
21
– in
which
our
hero
grows
up
and
finds
a
steady
partner
is
perhaps
less
convincing,
even
with
the
direct
appeal
to
the
audience.
This
production
has
boundless
physical
energy,
spectacular
movement
work
but
relatively
little
in
the
way
of
real
drama
or
believable
characters.
Its
world
is
increasingly,
teasingly,
orange:
an
egg
cup,
a
flat
cap,
the
carrots
and
the
clementines
in
the
nightmare
ballet.
And
there
are
welcome
flecks
of
comic
relief
amongst
the
the
kicks,
the
blows
and
the
groping,
the
camp
nurses,
for
instance.
Excellent
work
from
a
strong
young
ensemble,
with
the
occasional
standout
characterization:
F
Alexander
the
Writer,
the
Minister
of
the
Inferior,
and
the
impressive
doubling
of
Mr
Deltoid,
social
worker,
with
an
Irish
hellfire
chaplain.
Action
to the Word's Clockwork Orange has been successfully revived several
times – London fringe, Edinburgh – and now, slightly longer, it's
on the road again, ending this tour in Hong Kong by way of Inverness.
this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews
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