Film shocker brought to life at Eden Court

AS a film A Clockwork Orange became one of the most infamous films ever produced in Britain with its scenes of rape and murder.

Now novelist Anthony Burgess’s tale of teenage rebellion, mind control and "the old ultra-violence" is brought to the stage by theatre company Action to The Word.

Although director Alexandra Spencer-Jones believes that Stanley Kubrick’s film version, which the American-born director infamously withdrew from public screening for 27 years, is no longer as shocking to modern cinema-goers as it was on release, seeing the story played out live can still pack a powerful emotional punch.

"There is something about being locked in the room with live performers," she acknowledged.

"Even though we represent the violence in an unusual way at times, people are horrified at the way these people have got monsters in them. Anything could happen. If Alex (Burgess’s anti-hero) is right in front of you, you get the feeling that you could be his next victim."

This version of the futuristic fable was written by Burgess himself, partly as a reaction to other stage adaptations which drew on the 1971 film rather than Burgess’s own 1962 novel.

"He was already slightly mad that it had become Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and not Anthony Burgess’s, so he made the definitive version of the play text where, at the end, the character Stanley Kubrick comes out and they kick him off the stage," Spencer-Jones explained.

"Burgess’s adaptation includes a lot of songs of his own, so it’s almost like a musical. I then adapted that further into our niche style. I’m a huge lover of Anthony Burgess, but his songs just don’t do it for me."

Even with Burgess’s own songs removed and replaced by a selection from Spencer-Jones that includes David Bowie, The Scissor Sisters, Placebo, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Pink Floyd, the Burgess estate has paid Action to The Word the tribute of calling its adaptation the best version of the novel to date.

Which is an accolade Spencer-Jones is delighted to accept.

The novel has become a big part of her life ever since she was introduced to it by a teacher in Liverpool — with the caution that she and her fellow pupils were not to tell their parents.

"When I was 17 or 18, I came across the film version and I love that too for different reasons — as an artist I really enjoyed the way that the film looked. The book and film are very separate things in my head. The book is one that I think I will go back to throughout my life," she said.

"It’s incredibly timeless and as time passes, I can feel it shapeshifting in my own mind. It’s timeless."

Re-reading the book at different stages in life has given Spencer-Jones a different perspective on the book’s violent teenage protagonist, her near namesake Alex.

"As an adolescent, you are scared of him and his violence, but you are attracted to his rebelliousness and his humour," she said.

"Coming into adulthood, what’s strange is that I find him incredibly funny. He is very witty and draws genius comparisons between things in his own life and the greater scheme of things."

For her, Alex is neither a hero nor a villain, but something more ambiguous.

"Principally I work in Shakespeare, so a long time ago I made a decision that there are no heroes or villains," she said.

"But there is no way I could say to you, hand on heart, that Alex is a nice guy!

"The book and the play both put you in his shoes and you start empathising with him. It’s horrifying that you are on board with this murderer and rapist, but you are and that’s what’s so subversive about it. How he sees the world is very different from how you or I would view the world. He is a bad boy, but we’re all attracted to them!"

In another departure from Kubrick’s film, the play features an all male cast of young men in their 20s and early 30s.

The roots of Spencer-Jones’s decision to make this an all male production lie in an earlier version of "Romeo and Juliet"

"In that production I saw the testosterone and how young people fight so passionately, and I thought how interesting it would be to do something about being a boy with just boys," she explained.

"A lot of people think A Clockwork Orange is a story about rape and control over women and it’s just not that. It’s about power, and that doesn’t matter if it’s women or men. I wondered what would happen if I removed that machismo element of men having power over women. It was a really great experiment and I’d be as interested to see an all female production.

"It does raise some interesting questions about gender. We’ve had some people saying it’s quite a gay production. What? Because we’ve got no women in the cast? But it’s quite universal and it does have a homosexual appeal as well as a heterosexual appeal, like everything in life. In our production, a man gets raped, but Alex isn’t gay. He just rapes who he likes."

After starting life on the London Fringe, the performance went to Edinburgh, which in turn led to an eight week sell out run in London’s West End. Having already toured Australia, the company’s next stop after next week’s Inverness dates will be Hong Kong.

"They’ve certainly earned their success because they work incredibly hard," Spencer-Jones added.

"There are 10 in the company and only one of them plays one role. Between the rest of them they play 78 roles. It’s a real challenge for the actors."

• Action to The Word’s version of A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess is at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, on Wednesday 30th and Thursday 31st October at 8pm and is recommended for ages 16 and over.