A Clockwork Orange
Thursday 14th March
M and D Rooms
“Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some ways better than a man who has the good imposed upon him? Deep and hard questions…”
A Clockwork Orange, directed by Harry Kingscott and Dan McNeill, was a performance that brought to light many sinister questions about the nature of violence, good and evil, choice and humanity itself.
This gripping production was a darkly ironic, near-future satire, adapted from Anthony Burgess’s novel, which lingered in my mind well after the show had finished. The walk home in the dark certainly kept me on my toes a little more than usual.
This production is definitely not for the faint hearted, with murder and rape depicted. The play follows Alex, a teenage criminal who seems to thrive off of violence. When he is caught and incarcerated he agrees to undergo a new experiment that makes the subjects ill at the thought of violence. Even when ‘cured’ there is still an element of unease watching Ieaun Coomb’s performance.
This performance lost some of its intensity however in its staging. For me the M and D rooms seemed to be a hindrance instead of adding to the production. The narrow performance space and with the stage taken out, the actors were at an immediate disadvantage being several feet lower.
I can see what Kingscott and McNeill were trying to do and it did give the space a different feel, but a lot of audience members I spoke to after the show agreed that much of the fighting and action was lost due to sight-lines and this was a real shame. (And I thought I had a good seat, central in the fourth row!)
Coomb’s electric and powerful performance as Alex carried the show from his first line to his closing monologue. It was refreshing to see most of the cast playing their own ages, which is somewhat uncommon with student productions. This made their performances believable and more importantly relatable to us, as a student audience.
Its contemporary relevance was very clear to see, with reference to riots in London and the youth’s unease at its government. It was somewhat difficult to watch because although set in the future, it seemed that it could be depicting somewhere unsettlingly close to nowadays.
This new future was excellently crafted out of classical music by Beethoven, and the modern looking gadgets and experiments. The clash of new and current excellently formed a future.
One of the strongest elements to the production was the costume, it wasn’t too farfetched but designer Jenny Hall brilliantly captured the directors’ futuristic vision, the hard lines and bold colours really adding to the characters personas and the world they were in.
With such an iconic novel it is important to get away from the ‘expected’ and the obvious; Kingscott and McNeill could have easily re-staged the Stanley Kubrick film. However, it was refreshing to see two directors put their own stamp on such a well-known text: they made it relevant to us as an audience and provoked interesting questions.
Harry and Dan can be very proud of themselves, their strong ensemble cast and production team who have together made their vision a reality and a success.
Rating: 4/5
Alexander Palmer also writes at http://www.enterstagewrite.tumblr.com.
exeposedev 