The Theatre Workshop have chosen Anthony Burgess’s incredibly challenging 1962 novella A Clockwork Orange for their latest production. This dystopian tale employs violent images and acts to comment on juvenile delinquency, youth gangs, psychiatry and other socio-political subjects in near-future Britain and, for the young actors of the workshop, it gives them a fantastic opportunity to take on a really tough and gritty script.
Tough because the vast majority of the text is written in in “Nadsat”, a slang language composed mainly of Russian and English, and gritty because the production chronicles the horrific crime spree of a young man and his gang, his subsequent capture and attempted rehabilitation via controversial psychological conditioning.
Declan Mason plays Alex, the main character, whose varied interests include classical music, drugs, rape, and extreme violence. He leads a gang of thugs, played by Harvey Cole, Felix Brown and Sam Cartwright, whom he calls his droogs (from the Russian for friend/buddy).
One night, after getting intoxicated on “milk plus” (milk laced with drugs) they break into the country home of writer F. Alexander (William Robinson), where they beat him and force him to watch as Alex rapes his wife, played by Rosie Taylor-Ritson.
After a second attempted burglary Alex is captured and beaten by the police before being sentenced to a term in prison. As part of his rehabilitation he endures two weeks of the Ludovico technique, a process that involves drugging the subject, strapping them to a chair, propping their eyelids open, and forcing them to watch endless images of extreme violence.
This part of the show is very difficult to watch, as real films of the most horrific violence are projected onto the stage but, as a device to show how seeing that horror may help to reform even the toughest criminals, it works perfectly. It also gives Declan Mason the opportunity to display his superb acting talent – a talent that has just secured him a place at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
In the final scenes, Alex is freed and returns to his parents home only to find that, in his absence, everything has changed. His room has been rented out and, in a “poacher turned gamekeeper” scenario, his droogs are now police officers – who take the first opportunity to beat Alex to a pulp.
Over the last few years The Theatre Workshop have brought to the Brighton Fringe superb productions that have stretched their talents to breaking point and, although this show may not be original, it is certainly the most challenging piece to date – but one that they deliver brilliantly.
Four Stars ****