A Clockwork Orange

“What’s it going to be then, eh?” So taunts Alex, the lead character of Anthony Burgess’s infamous A Clockwork Orange. That line is not only a veiled threat to many of Alex’s victims but to any director who chooses to take on such a well-known work.

Orange comes with a lot of baggage. The inspiration for the story came from an actual assault Burgess’s wife endured during WWII, the story hinges on a murderous, rapist thug and Stanley Kubrick’s iconic film adaptation, with its graphic sex and violence, lingers in pop culture’s consciousness.

So the most successful aspect of this current production is that director Jeremy Raison has pretty much thrown out all previous incarnations and has created an original experience.

Gone are the bowler hats and attempts at being futuristic and in is a postmodern wasteland. Raison’s world fits comfortably both in the 1960s and in science fiction, yet it has enough parallels and references to the present to still feel relevant. The staging rarely takes the realistic route and instead uses stylised movement for many of the key scenes, and the design concept is a wonder of sliding doors, flashing lights and twisted debris.

There's also a brilliant performance from lead actor Jay Taylor, whose Alex is a frightening force of destruction. He clearly enjoys the mayhem he creates and yet comes across as charismatic and, especially in the second half, sympathetic. It’s a difficult feat to pull off, and Taylor does so admirably.

Yet the production is not by any means perfect. The biggest flaw is Burgess’s own adaptation, which comes across many times as a staged reading of the novel rather than a flesh-and-blood drama script. The ensemble are mostly impressive but are asked to take on a lot of different roles, which they do with variable success. Also, much of the sex and violence feels watered down, resulting in a production that is well handled but feels a bit too safe for its own good.