A Clockwork Orange - The Play

I have never been a big fan of the physical theatre. Neither do I like overly stylised theatrical pieces. However there is something about this stage adaptation of "A Clockwork Orange" that attracts me. Is it because of the brilliant book written by Anthony Burgess that investigates whether one’s freewill should be stripped because of who he is? Or is it because of Stanley Kubrick remarkable film adaptation that still resonates in my head? I don't know. But what I do know is that by instinct this stage adaptation of this brilliant book would be a night of interesting theatrical experience.

This is a production directly from UK after a sold out season in its birthplace. As I was eagerly waiting for the show to start, I was bombarded with a mixed of rocking Beethoven, something that would not fail to remind you that you are going to see "A Clockwork Orange". The show started with the cast slowly descending the stairs onto the stage (this staging might differ according to the theatre the show is being performed). The movement was well...very stylised. That immediately rang an alarm for me. But then this is "A Clockwork Orange" you got to give it some credits right? As the cast delivered the first line, you know the director had got it right. The roughness in speech delivery contradicted sharply and directly with the stylised movements of the body and immediately created a conflicting world that "A Clockwork Orange" resides in. That was sheer brilliance to me.

In the next hour and a half I was completely absorbed into the world this production has created. The stage was simple and during the progressed of the show trashed (and I am not a big fan of trashing the stage either). But it never took you away from where you were. The cast constantly delivered clusters of facial and muscle twisting performances that strangely fit into this world perfectly. Violence and fights were highly choreographed and usually accompanied with rock tunes. So you feel the violence in action but you don’t see it right in your face. A lot of things that I usually hated to see in a standard theatrical production I didn't mind here at all. In fact I was appreciating the production went to the distance to create this stylishly violent imaginative world.

The show was delivered by an all male cast, which means that a few small female parts were “covered” by some male cast members. Usually it would feel weird when guys covering female roles but then at this point I did not mind it anymore. The good thing is that they did not try to put on a high pitch voice for those roles, which for me would be extremely tacky and lack of depth. In fact in certain scenes, I did think that the use of an all male cast had blurred the line of sexuality creatively, which added another interesting layer to the production as the sexuality of the characters was not an issue no matter how the world thinks about them.

Similar to the book or maybe to an extent the film, this stage adaptation of "A Clockwork Orange" would not be everybody's cup of tea. If you go in expecting a standard stage show you could be disappointed (and there were some people around me yawning and shaking their hands during the show). However if you could appreciate what this stage adaptation is trying to achieve you would appreciate the immense effort put together by everyone in this production. As I said earlier, "A Clockwork Orange" has all the elements that I normally would not like in the theatre. However in this production everything they did physically, vocally and stylistically made sense. I think that is why I was able to appreciate it as it is. However do avoid trying comparing this stage adaptation with Kubrick's film because this would be totally unfair to both productions. Also it could create obstacles for you to appreciate this stage version as it is.

"A Clockwork Orange" will be going Perth, Canberra and Brisbane after they completed their Sydney run on 5 May. So if you are in for a night of challenging but brilliant theatre grab a ticket while you can.