A Clockwork Orange (Bristol)

Volcano bring us Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange to the stage, although by their own testament it is ‘a different beast’. It is the story of Alex, a young boy determined to commit acts of ‘ultra-violence’ along with his gang of droogs. He is eventually sentenced to prison, during which time he receives a form of therapy designed to quash his appetite for violence.

This production is peppered with moments of brilliance and imagination, from the slicing up of a Barbie doll to the murder of an old woman being repeated over and over again which one cannot help but find amusing.

However, for the most part of this production, there is simply far too much happening on stage – the dialogue itself is very powerful but not nearly as effective when so much else is going on round about it. At one point performer Mairi Phillips reverts to being herself, complaining about not getting a round of applause for ‘getting her tits out’, this moment is quite frankly confusing and out of place – pushing us even further away from the narrative.

These five talented performers each play the character of Alex, all with their own individual flair. It is certainly not the novel or the film, but the pieces are all there, although at times somewhat clouded.

- by Iain MacDonald