"As a piece of theatre, it finds its flow. As a debate play, though, it gathers a locomotive energy as it travels towards the showdown between Frank Miller (James Doherty), who is returning to this dirty little village in the middle of nowhere, and the marshal Will Kane (Crudup) who put him behind bars. That is mostly because of the uncanny and urgent relevance of this 1952 film about a community working out (or rather, squirming out of) its civic responsibilities around institutional wrongdoing."
"How do you turn a classic Hollywood western into West End musical fare? Add songs, many of Bruce Springsteen's in this case, along with a few rounds of line dancing and a sizzling star in Billy Crudup. Still, it's an odd experience initially as Thea Sharrock's production switches from one brief filmic scene to the next, and the endeavour seems as wooden as the clapboard saloon-bar slats that comprise the handsome set."
A West End adaptation transforms a classic Hollywood western into musical fare using Bruce Springsteen songs, line dancing, and Billy Crudup as the marshal. The staging initially feels episodic and wooden, with brief filmic scene shifts set against a clapboard saloon-bar design. The production finds theatrical flow and becomes a debate play that builds energy toward the showdown between Frank Miller (James Doherty) and marshal Will Kane (Billy Crudup). The 1952 source operates as an allegory of McCarthyism, contrasting the cowardice of the many with the courage of the few. Eric Roth retains Foreman's lines while expanding debates on community responsibility and immigration myths, and Denise Gough appears as Amy Fowler, a Quaker opposed to violence.
#theatre-adaptation #high-noon #collective-responsibility #mccarthyism-allegory #bruce-springsteen-songs
Read at www.theguardian.com
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