A Small Mind At The Theatre

If I was to liken Cyrano de Bergerac to a film, it would be a film that is never really going to achieve a best picture nomination, but has an uncontested winner of the best actor Oscar. I might also say that it has a couple of fine chances of supporting role nominations and that it is finished before the Titanic finally hits the bottom of the ocean. However, it is not a film, but my flight of fancy very much sums up the whole situation. No matter how slightly dodgy the foundations are of this partnership between Royal & Derngate and Northern Stage, you cannot help leaving three and a quarter hours latter with the shear dazzle of the lead performance shining in your eyes. My sole encounter with Edmond Rostand's 1897 story of the physically challenged, poetical hero comes from the 1987 Steve Martin film Roxanne. When I first saw it in the early nineties I was an the perfect age to fall in love with Daryl Hannah's Roxanne. However I had neither Christian's (Chris in t...

Written in 1962 by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange remains even today one of the most controversial stories of all time. Maybe most of this controversy comes from its 1971 film version, which was even withdrawn by its own director Stanley Kubrick, and only became wildly available after his death. Maybe less familiar is the stage version which was adapted by the author himself. Perhaps due a little to the passage of time, the University Of Northampton's vivid performance felt more powerful than the film. Violence on film has become common place so Malcolm McDowell and his droogs attacks have become less powerful on screen. On stage however, much of that violence is more offered in the mind and to that extent feels more powerful. The clever use of screens in particular removing the more barbaric scenes slightly away from the eye and more into the mind. Playing Alex is Sam Billy Behan, once again in the lead following his epic performance as Macbeth . He is the same commanding...