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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Clockwork Orange Promises Excitement

On the surface, A Clockwork Orange is a standard dystopian text, in the same line as classics such as Huxley’s Brave New World. It is complete with suitably wicked teenage males, beautiful young women and gratuitous violence. It is not so simple though; it is an intricate work. It is freedom and choice, not violence, teenage rebellion, good and evil, social pathology, nor high adventure that is at the heart of this work.

Written by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange was first published in 1962 and then adapted into a film by Stanley Kubrick in 1971. The film was a success and despite being quite controversial, it has become iconic. Burgess felt that the film glorified sex and violence in a manner that detracted attention from the core theme of his novella - choice. So repulsed was Burgess that, in response to it, he published a revised version in 1987 which focused the lens more on his core theme of choice. It is this central message that Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Andrew W. Smith ’97.5 has aimed to capture in directing the College’s production, which is an adaptation of the novella by Anthony Burgess scheduled to be performed on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights this week.

“It is everything that you want theatre to be,” Smith said. “It’s stylistic, full of action and great choreographed sequences, full of a lot of good questions and full of a lot of heart and passion. There is a lot of music, light and a sense of pageantry. There is a whole lot to it.”

Smith believes that part of the reason he selected A Clockwork Orange as the text for the production is that it is an expressionist piece and he is interested in that style and the creativity that it inherently brings to the process and, ultimately, the product.

“Expressionism is a certain kind of style that, in essence, tells the story through the eyes of the main character,” he said. “Many of the stylistic choices have to do with how the other characters interact with him, or what they are blocking. Their behavior or actions are filtered through the lens of what it feels like to the main character [Alex]. That was certainly a point of interest in choosing the novella for the script,” said Smith.

The production’s aim is not just to convey the central message, but to lead to discussion and ask questions.

“I really believe and appreciate theatre that asks questions more than provide answers and that is what I am hoping will happen with this show,” Smith said.

While choice is the main message, Smith is aware of the intrinsic violence in the story but urges the audience to be alert to the distinction between the film and the novella.

“It is crucial to separate the movie and the novella,” he said. “Our production focuses more on the novella. Still, it is a show that is full of fight choreography; there are probably 15 different fights that involve huge numbers of the cast. We affectionately refer to it as a fight show with a little bit of text, but that is not to underplay the value of the text itself which has a very high level of poetry to it.”

Language is certainly a prominent feature of the text because it uses Nasdat, which is an invented language created by Antony Burgess.

“It [Nasdat] is essentially a mixture of Russian and English which at the time up to this are the two most politically powerful languages,” Smith said. “The result is a very poetical language.”

The political significance of merging these two languages, given the context of the political tension that existed when the novella was written, is unmistakable to anyone familiar with the history of the Cold War. The use of Nasdat is even more important within the story because it is an impenetrable language spoken by the youth. It is incomprehensible to judges, government and all forms of authority in whatever guise that they are presented.

Smith is working with a total of 28 talented actors, stage manager Katie Preston ’17, assistant stage managers Adam Rivera ’17 and Aashna Aggarwal ’16, and between 15 and 20 students in technical supporting roles.

A lot of hard work has gone into making the production possible.

“We rehearse every day for the maximum number of hours possible, which is an average of 24 hours a week,” Smith said.

As the performance date looms ever nearer, they have been rehearsing for an average of 30 hours a week.

“The time commitment is truly impressive,” he said.

Steven Medina ’17, one of the actors, conveyed excitement for the upcoming performances. He expressed that his sense of drive is predicated on working with a group of people that care for and supportive of each other, as well as his ardent love for theater.

“Honestly, we are all thrilled to be together,” Medina said.” At times, rehearsals get really stressful, especially when I have to study and do homework for other classes. I keep moving forward because this camaraderie means a lot to me and I have a huge passion for theatre. Andrew is great and when he directs us, I know he really cares about, not only the show, but our wellbeing and how we are developing as actors. I love these guys and soon our hard work will pay off, which is probably what most of us are waiting to test.”

The show will be nothing short of a dazzling phenomenon.

“The show combines the element of heart with spectacle, brilliant language and a great text – and that is something quite rare. It should be entertaining and hopefully thought-provoking,” Smith said.

Performances will be held in Wright Memorial Theatre at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Apr. 10 and 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Apr. 11 and Saturday, Apr. 12. Tickets are $6 for students and are available at the Box Office. There will also be a discussion of the production after the Friday performance with the director, cast and managers.


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