Re-Funked and Rebooted, This New Clockwork Orange Kicks Serious Jazz…
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| Sep 09 |
It’s a warped world of Alex and co. to begin with, granted, but this ethnicized, jazzified, choreographed up to the nines version at Stratford is surprisingly accessible, and gloriously watchable.
Alex (Ashley Hunter) here cuts a diminutive figure, but still adorned in DMs, and up to his usual tricks, is joined on this skate park of a stage by a thoroughly excellent crew of ‘ninjas’. And what’s more, they sing. And rap. And bounce around the place as if on permanent springboards. Not to everyone’s taste you may think, but the absolute finesse of performance from one and all means that you can’t take your eyes off them.
Not just that, it’s pretty funny too. And that most dreaded element - stage violence, is artfully depicted through stylized choreography whilst slow-mo, kill bill-esque jazz music solidifies the movement into something you await rather than hide from.
There are a fair few alterations to the lingo and the plot, but our ultra-violent protagonist still gets ‘treated’ as it were, and along the way we encounter a horrendously amusing Kirris Riviere as Alex’s Zen serial killer cellmate, and some stunning support from the parents (Susan Lawson Reynolds and Marcus Powell).
Georgie is played now by Jack Shalloo (a last minute stand-in), adding a fantastic voice and physicality to the mix, and Raphael Sowole is wonderfully intimidating as trigger-happy Dim. The middle-man, Pete is sympathetically portrayed by Darren Hart, and it is unsurprising that Alex’s reform originates in this friend, of them all.
The ending was a little Hollywood for my taste, but I have absolute respect overall for the Ed DuRanté re-write, and to anyone that might shy away from the show simply because they’re not a fan of the film, I would whole-heartily advise that you get down to Stratford. It’s Alex, but not like you’ve seen him before – these youths might well have been plucked from a 2011 riot, although I doubt you’d meet a rioter with such a mellifluous singing voice. Too good to miss; this neon, modern update adds an offbeat rhythm and rhyme to a cult classic. Go, go go – right, right, right.
A Clockwork Orange runs at Theatre Royal Stratford East at 7:30pm until 1st October
Alex (Ashley Hunter) here cuts a diminutive figure, but still adorned in DMs, and up to his usual tricks, is joined on this skate park of a stage by a thoroughly excellent crew of ‘ninjas’. And what’s more, they sing. And rap. And bounce around the place as if on permanent springboards. Not to everyone’s taste you may think, but the absolute finesse of performance from one and all means that you can’t take your eyes off them.
Not just that, it’s pretty funny too. And that most dreaded element - stage violence, is artfully depicted through stylized choreography whilst slow-mo, kill bill-esque jazz music solidifies the movement into something you await rather than hide from.
There are a fair few alterations to the lingo and the plot, but our ultra-violent protagonist still gets ‘treated’ as it were, and along the way we encounter a horrendously amusing Kirris Riviere as Alex’s Zen serial killer cellmate, and some stunning support from the parents (Susan Lawson Reynolds and Marcus Powell).
Georgie is played now by Jack Shalloo (a last minute stand-in), adding a fantastic voice and physicality to the mix, and Raphael Sowole is wonderfully intimidating as trigger-happy Dim. The middle-man, Pete is sympathetically portrayed by Darren Hart, and it is unsurprising that Alex’s reform originates in this friend, of them all.
The ending was a little Hollywood for my taste, but I have absolute respect overall for the Ed DuRanté re-write, and to anyone that might shy away from the show simply because they’re not a fan of the film, I would whole-heartily advise that you get down to Stratford. It’s Alex, but not like you’ve seen him before – these youths might well have been plucked from a 2011 riot, although I doubt you’d meet a rioter with such a mellifluous singing voice. Too good to miss; this neon, modern update adds an offbeat rhythm and rhyme to a cult classic. Go, go go – right, right, right.
A Clockwork Orange runs at Theatre Royal Stratford East at 7:30pm until 1st October
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