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Theater Review: MET's Clockwork Orange

Joe Jalette as Alex, in A Clock Work Orange

Dan Brick

Joe Jalette as Alex, in A Clock Work Orange

Dan Brick

“Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some ways better than a man who has the good imposed upon him?” This is the question central to the Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s production of “A Clockwork Orange.”

 

Adapted from his own novella of the same name in 1987, Anthony Burgess created this theatre piece with music as response to the Stanley Kubrick film that he felt had distorted, through both sensationalism and bowdlerization, the theme and message of his story.

 

This morality tale, set in a dystopian future, struck a chord with youth in both its film and literary incarnations. It has all the tropes of rebel without a cause mythology wherein the misunderstood, angst-ridden teen repressed by the evil, soul-less, clueless institutions of church, state and parenthood is moved to anarchic, anti-social action in antipathy to all the big brother forces that would deny him his freedom.

 

Joe Jalette delivers a riveting performance as the abused and confused anti-hero Alex, bringing vividly to life his tortured psyche and search for identity. As the only character in the ensemble piece with a through-line, it falls upon his shoulders to carry the show and engage the audience in his journey. Jalette manages the herculean task with aplomb, radiating a likeability and animal attractiveness that makes Alex in equal measure sympathetic and repulsive as required. He delivers the bizarre extremes of the action in honest, human emotion, grounding the show as its Everyman center.

 

The remaining 10 members of the ensemble play multiple roles, morphing from one to another character by virtue of minor costume changes and physical adjustments. Clay Comer, Joey Ibanez, and Matt Lee were audience favorites as the malcontent Droog thugs who later became members of the police force. Eric Jones as the Minister of the Interior chewed up and spit out the scenery with great relish, then proceeded to re-masticate and expectorate once again to the delight of an appreciative audience. These turns were directed as more the stuff of cartoon movie villainy, atrocious depravity writ large. In contrast, MET stalwart, Karen Paone-McDonald delivered a far more realistic Dr. Branom, portraying the moral ambiguity of the character with nuance and gentle wit. Tim Seltzer also approached his characters, the Chaplain and F.Alexander, with subtlety, perhaps too much so. His delivery of lines such as that with which this review begins and a later monologue including key themes of the show; “Deprived of choice. A man who cannot choose ceases to be a man…To turn a decent boy into a piece of clockwork. They will do it to us all,” were almost lost, moments of sanity elided over and rushed, as if the show were in too much a hurry to savor the next episode of heinous barbarity and inhumanity.

 

Director, Julie Herber, managed to set an other-worldly tone from the moment one entered the theatre. The set, designed by Ira Domser, consisted of hanging white tubes which tracked to various positions on the stage, and with which the cast sometimes interacted. A clever and facile way to re-shape the space and instantly change locations, the tubes also served as screens through and around which the audience had to look in order to gain access to the uniquely squalid and violent world of the play. This is also the case with the language, though a convenient “Nadat Slang” dictionary of 100 words is included in the program, one must pay careful attention to the dialogue, sometimes gleaning meaning from the context and action rather than the unfamiliar words. There were times when rather than enhance the experience, the language made it difficult to follow, lines being delivered at such volume and with such force that diction was lost. Too, sometimes the conceptually brilliant set tubes were positioned in such a way as to block visibility from the sides of the thrust seating arrangement; an issue which I’m certain will be adjusted as the run proceeds.

 

This is not a production which lends itself to easy description. I approached it with some trepidation as I am not a fan of the film with its relentless violence and dark, nihilistic pessimism that left me feeling dirty and violated. I was relieved to find the stage version less bleak and cynical, and far less violent. There are episodes of assault and brutality, and while they are clearly choreographed to be realistic, in such close quarters they did not quite come off and might have been better had they been stylized as was some of the other staging of the show.

 

“A Clockwork Orange” is rife with questions and subject matter that strike a timely chord in today’s troubled world. What constitutes morality? When does freedom of choice become a violation of the rights of others, a threat to society? When does law and order cross a line into fascistic mind control? These are not simple questions, and this is not a simple show. It presents its story and seduces the audience with its atmosphere of anomie meant to result in a moral quandary.

 

When a production can leave me with questions and challenge me to consider the world in which we live, and re-evaluate my place in it, I feel both gratified and thankful. “A Clockwork Orange” makes you think, which is the job of good theatre, which, once again, the MET brings to Frederick in its own inimitable style. Herber directs the dystopian confection with her usual gift for visual grandeur, the actors deliver mostly rich and involving characterizations, and one is drawn into the story, only realizing after the fact, “I’m not quite sure how I feel about this.”

 

I recommend that you see it and decide for yourself.

 

A Clockwork Orange runs through June 18 at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre. Visit MarylandEnsemble.org for information and tickets.

 

Charlie Smith is still thinking about the ways in which he is too much like Alex in A Clockwork Orange…or not enough so. He Tweets as MiracleCharlie & blogs at miraclecharlie.typepad.com/herewearegoing/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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