Volcano Theatre production of A Clockwork Orange

Volcano: A Clockwork Orange Taliesin Arts Centre
22^nd October 2011

Tucked away on Swansea High Street, Volcano Theatre’s cast are rehearsing for their approaching UK tour of A Clockwork Orange. Volcano have made their home in an intriguing empty space – initially for their 1977 original production Volcano are now resident there long term. The space is misleading as its small front room with scattered sofas and chairs opens on to a bigger, industrial space where artists and actors are able to take over, to rehearse and develop new pieces.

Between preparations two Young Critics catch them for a quick chat.  

The cast are a varied group, coming from a range of nationalities; ranging from a Scot in Mairi Phillips and a strong American accent in Billy Rayner. There also seems to be quite an age gap, between the innocent, fresh faces of Alex Moran and Kyle Edward-Hubbard to the more experienced world-wise cockney Paul Coldrick.

Our Chat with the Cast: 

First things first, what five words would you use to describe the show?

After much debate between themselves and some questionable hyphens, five words just couldn’t quite cover all the ideas covered in the show. The resulting eight words the cast decided upon were: Energetic, Full-on, Weird, Challenging, Beautiful, Funny and Spooky.

With the recent riots in London A Clockwork Orange appears to have more validity in today’s society, unlike the 50’s when Burgess’ believed that the Soviet Union would take over Britain and everything in between. Do you think the story holds even more relevance for today’s audience?

Of course and riots are mentioned but work actually started on the show well before the London riots so we don’t want the focus to be on that but the fact that this is a great adaptation of the book. The story is all about pushing boundaries, youth aggression, adult fear and the lack of police so there are definite parallels there. Anthony Burgess was certainly ahead of his time, he predicted that footballers would be paid ridiculous amounts and we would all use TVs, so there is definitely something to be taken from the text in today’s society.

Burgess invented a new language, Nadsat, that the teens in A Clockwork Orange speak. As it is a mix of English, Russian, Gypsy, Cockney rhyming slang and all sorts of other languages do you worry that the audience won’t understand you?

No, not at all, the Nadsat words carry a lot of weight and emotion so even though the exact meanings may not be understood, they still make sense in context. It’s quite similar to watching Shakespeare, at first the language can be difficult but you soon pick bits and pieces up and everything makes sense in its own way.

The role of Alex is split between each of you; please explain how that has worked?

Alex is the narrator of the story and so we have all become narrators. We are all different and have our own interpretation of the character so by sharing the role we can each bring something different to the stage. Alex is a complex mind and hopefully you get that through the way we have chosen to stage it. Also this suits Volcano’s ethic better, there is no hierarchy, no lead role, everyone is equal and everyone’s contribution counts.

Mairi; being the only woman in a play centred on ultraviolent, male behaviour do you think you had more of a challenge than the men?
It hasn’t really been an issue, most of the time gender isn’t even an issue, I’m just playing Alex. The only time I play a woman is as Alex’s mother, I’m not there to be a rape victim. I think it has been really challenging for all of us.

In the book, music is a very big part of Alex’s life, how has music influenced the production?

Actually the music is only just starting to come in. We wanted the scenes to have their own weight first, without having to rely on dramatic music. It’s there to add another dimension rather than overpower the scene.

Lastly, we asked Volcano what the inspiration was behind the picture of a young boy as the promotional material:

It shows a balance between innocence and aggression, both are looming at you from the picture. Although he is a young angelic looking boy there is a lot of action going on behind him. It’s open to a lot of different interpretations, perhaps it could be Alex as a young boy or maybe even Alex’s future child.

As a Theatre company Volcano are very much up for pushing boundaries and not holding back, for 25 years they have made extraordinary theatre, provoking and stimulating with strong yet unpredictable performances. With this in mind, A Clockwork Orange ought to be done justice as a performance. Keep reading to find out how these ideas translated onto the stage and what we thought of the performance.....

“What’s it going to be then, eh?”

Most would associate A Clockwork Orange as one of the most notorious narratives of the 20^th Century; yet few remember its life began as a novel by Anthony Burgess and not the Stanley Kubrick film of the 70’s. In the hands of theatre company Volcano, Burgess’ narrative is brought back to life and laid bare.

Alex, the dystopia’s main character is a misjudged, neglected 15 year old boy: “a creature incapable of moral choice”. He is the leader of a gang of ‘droogs’, as the Nadsat language calls them. Focusing on the book Volcano give Alex centre stage letting him narrate the story and giving voice to friends and victims alike. Each cast member plays Alex in turn and as a group, lending their multitude of accents to an instantly changeable fast paced piece. These differences allow Alex’s innocence and aggression to be displayed simultaneously, highlighting the confusion suffered by hormonal, misrepresented teenagers. Having such a varied cast brings out the diverse aggression projected onto Alex by the people in his life, even though their intentions are good. It intensifies the debate and moral message of whether it is better to choose to be evil than forced to be good. An argument brought to the surface by the cast in the stark difference between British and American attitudes towards criminals.

It is difficult to move away or play down the ultra-violence that Alex and cronies commit but expressive tap dance, umbrella’s and use of Barbie dolls in the rape scene the violence are far from shocking and responsibly represented. The use of repetition and sped up, expansive movements in the final act of violence adds a darkly comic moment to the absurdity of his drug fuelled adventures.

The set builds on the duality of Alex’s position. All black and square edges, it fades away when an array of television sets burst into colour, highlighting their content. Small, almost insignificant flashes of white appear heightened, a flicker of hope in a sea of evil. The cast, in their monochrome costumes climb over and gather around banks of stereo’s and black bookcase, their white shirts in stark contrast, adding to the duality. Another is during Alex’s experience of the Ludoviko effect: a projection screen replaces the TV’s – ultra violent images projected onto a pure white sheet.

Alex’s vulnerability is emphasized as the production nears its close – in his state of puppeteered goodness Alex gives up his clothes in the rain to help a girl and lands on his parents door fully naked and they reject him for who he was not who he could now become. It is in this state of puppetry that Alex attempts suicide – the Ludoviko effect forces him to associate the beauty, passion and musical clarity Beethoven with ultra-violence. What is life without Beethoven re reasons and jumps, only he is cured of the treatment given and now tiring, voluntarily turns away from his old life.

The last scene is left out of many American editions of the book and was left out of the 1970’s film, yet it is central to the moral and political message intended by Burgess, a man clearly ahead of his time.  Volcano have stayed true to the message and produced a clever, haunted and unforgettable performance.

“Am I to be nothing but a clockwork Orange?”

Pictures kindly provided by Volcano Theatre

The Prince's Pen & The White Trail. The newest edition of Seren Book's "Stories from the Mabinogion"

18th October 2011
Chapter Arts, Cardiff. 

2011 see’s Welsh publisher Seren Books celebrate their 30^th Birthday.  Originally Poetry Wales Press, the publishing house has witnessed major changes in Welsh cultural history and as original founder Cary Archard said – helped bring about changes in the way Welsh funding is dealt with. They are a small publisher with a strong Welsh voice.  With First Minister Carwyn Jones AM in attendance the event was lent the weight and conviction that the Arts in Wales still mattered and weren't being sidelined.
    As part of the celebrations, the newest instalments of the Mabinogion Series were launched at Chapter Arts;  Fflur Dafydd’s The White Trail and Horatio Clare’s The Princes Pen. The books join the current four by prominent Welsh authors. 

All images from Seren website.

 The Mabinogion is a collection of eleven stories originating from The Red book of Hergest and The White book of Rhydderch, two medieval manuscripts dating as far back as the 6^th Century. Folk tales that grant unparalleled access to Celtic mythology and magic, the stories give us one of the first tastes of Arthurian legend and a perspective of ancient Britain. With enchantment and shape-shifting, conflict and peacemaking, love and betrayal what we would call magic realism, sci-fi or even war novels would have been a reflection of everyday belief’s and experiences in Celtic Britain. Seren took up the challenge to bring the Mabinogion into the 21^st Century three years ago nearly at my count and each author is allowed to take their chosen myth and have creative authority to do as they will.

Originally attending the launch of the first four books a year ago - as part of the BayLit Festival in conjunction with Academi (now Literature Wales) I dashed along to meet the new authors and listen to what they had to say.

Horatio Clare is best known as a travel writer and journalist and The Prince’s Pen is his first published fiction. He takes the myth of Lludd and Llevelys, transforming it into an ultra modern mix of faith, culture and futuristic landscapes involving the bandit kings of Wales Ludo and Levello. In the discussion with Seren editor Penny Thomas, he calls the novella a “[clean, beautiful three pointed story]”, its neat construct of two dragons and two faiths – reminiscent of the myth of Merlin as a young boy and a parallel with today’s multi-faith society. When choosing the tale, Horatio spoke of  how the tale’s revelations of London’s origin struck a chord with his memories of Newport Station platform and its links with Llundain Paddington (London Paddington) waiting for family to arrive. Particularily as there is some truth to the tale’s myth: Ludgate hill,  Lludd is rumoured to be buried under St Pauls.

Fflur Dafydd is an established Welsh language writer and lecturer at Swansea University - she has also publishing in English with her novel Twenty Thousand Saints.  Fflur’s adaptation The White Trail is taken from the Mabinogion tale How Culhwch won Olwen. Fflur’s own experience of the Mabinogion is extensive, playing a big part in her childhood and experiencing it in school through translating the difficult old Welsh. She explained that whilst it was familiar territory, the opportunity to do something new with it and use her creativity was a chance not to be missed. To Fflur the myth and the novel are two very different creatures but both have other worldly, magical elements, she has taken two of the tale’s most under-used character’s Goleuddydd and Cilydd and built the story round them. Yet she has also included the ‘task’ (one of forty in the tale) involving Rhiannon’s birds – magical birds capable of waking the dead and lulling the living to sleep.  The original tale is one of the first tastes of Arthurian legend we have and in The White Trail his heroics are very much diminished and he loses much of the traditional knightly valour.

As editor Penny mentioned the novels have come from each author looking at the gaps and finding what was missed, the crack in the apparent seamlessness of the tales.

The rest of the series will be published over the next few years, hopefully two at a time. With signed copies of all six books in hand, keep watching for their up and coming reviews.