A CLOCKWORK ORANGE: A PLAY WITH MUSIC
By Anthony Burgess
Destruction is our ode to joy
Alex and his teenage gang revel in danger, mayhem and a bit o’ the ol’ in-out-in-out, ideally with Beethoven blasting in their ears. Communicating in a strange slang dialect, they stalk the streets wreaking havoc without consequences – until a drug-fuelled night of fun ends in murder, and Alex is finally busted and banged up. He’s given a choice: be brainwashed into good citizenship and set free, or face a lifetime inside. But can ‘goodness’ really exist when you’re given no other choice? And what happens when Alex is released back into the society he once terrorised?
Based on his provocative 1962 novella A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess’ play with music is a searing collection of Shakespearean prose and bad behaviour that tackles timeless questions about free will, adolescence, humanity’s capacity for violence, and the power of the state. 50 years after Stanley Kubrick’s iconic film adaptation exploded into cinemas, ATYP’s Artistic Director Fraser Corfield reimagines everyone’s favourite dystopian vision of misspent youth for a 2022 audience.
Grab your droogs, it’s time to gooly down to The Rebel Theatre to see what piques your shilarny. You’re bezoomny if ya miss it.
WARNINGS: Confronting themes, stage violence and rehearsed mayhem
