The clock is ticking for this controversial, phenomenal production to take to the stage and a explanation for why the themes of the play are so important in the modern era.
Most people, even if they have not seen and read A Clockwork Orange, have either heard of it. Some people, even without watching it, recognize references’, such as ‘what’s it going to be then, ey?’ or the infamous one eye-lashed look from the film, worn by Malcom McDonal, as well as the droogs white attire. The themes in A Clockwork Orange are as relevant in our contemporary society as they were when the novel was originally published.
A Clockwork Orange follows the fourteen-year-old Alex DeLarge and his band of vicious droogs (Dim, Georgie and Pete). The young group of droogs inflict terror and mayhem on the streets of their unspecified town, in an unknown era in a dystopian world. The entire play begs the moral question: is it better for goodness to come from choosing to commit only moral acts or can you force someone to be good by conditioning them to only being able to commit goodness, but ultimately eliminating free will.
The infamous tale of A Clockwork Orange is known to most people and has been adapted many times. Firstly, starting out as a novel, written by Anthony Burgess’ in 1961. Director Stanley Kubrick then adapted the novel into a feature film in 1971, which brought the novel the recognition it deserved. However, Kubrick’s controversial adaption of a rape scene, where the protagonist sings Singing in the Rain while assaulting a woman, led to the film being banned in 1973. As the film was prohibited in many countries, the literacy work of A Clockwork Orange was dampened as well. As a result, to reclaim his work once again, Burgess’ adapted his novel into a stage production in 1987.
Masculinity and the representation of gender is a major theme in A Clockwork Orange. Our production of this out-understanding, yet predominately masculine show was created by an all-female production team. Therefore, the creative vison was to demonstrate this challenging and very relevant theme of toxic masculinity and portray it in an interesting, sensitive way. This is achieved in varies way, one of them being that the gender roles are mixed up, women play the roles that were originally written for men and vise versa.
The entire production process has been on-going since October last term. The cast are all extremely talented and range from first year students to master students, making it a harmonious and fully enjoyable experience. As already stated, the production team are all female, this includes the director, the producer/assistant director, movement choreographer, technical manager and stage manager. Both production crew and cast have been incredibly devoted since the beginning and have worked so hard together.
SUDs are thrilled by being given the opportunity to perform A Clockwork Orange in the amazing Attenborough Arts Centre theatre, running from the 4th – 6th of April, with a matinee on the Saturday, at 2pm. We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed creating it.
