The theater version of A Clockwork Orange, at New World Stages, is a haunting and violent production
based upon Anthony Burgess’ 1962 novel and Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1971 film adaptation of it. The 90-minute performance centers on a violent teenager, Alex DeLarge, played expertly by Jonno Davies. He leads a gang called the “droogs” (from the Russian word for “friend”). Speaking in an argot mixing Cockney and Russian-derived slang expressions, they go on a rampage of sociopathic violence, beating, raping, and murdering helpless victims.
Director Alexandra Spencer-Jones provides us with scenes of cruelty and savagery by the gang, and of Alex eventually having to give up his free will through an experimental aversion-therapy treatment that forces him into conformity with societal norms.
The flow of the show is uneven, but it’s a chilling commentary on some segments of today’s society. It certainly is not for the faint of heart.
