A Clockwork Orange (New World Stages)

"A thrillingly respectful amalgam of Burgess’ hurtle into an acidic culture...Spencer-Jones' immaculate treatment of the material results in a 90-minute, intermissionless dive, one featuring precise, exaggerated behaviors and closely drilled movements...There is much to be said for the performers cast for this production and it’s not just that they’re triple-threat actor-singer-dancers; as an ensemble, they’re off the charts." Full Review

"A work that remains as disturbingly relevant today as it was when it first appeared in the sixties, and as grippingly powerful as any of the versions that came before it. Much of that is due to an unceasingly riveting performance by Jonno Davies...The show’s impact can also be credited to Spencer-Jones, who directs the all-male cast of nine in a potent testosterone-driven blend of extremely loud and belligerent mannered speech and highly stylized movement." Full Review

“Alexandra Spencer-Jones’s staging slices deeply into the human psyche…Ms. Spencer-Jones’s creation is an accurate telling of the novel energized by the athletic dance movement and athleticism of the ensemble cast…Under her precise and inventive direction, the ensemble cast of ‘misfits’ and ‘miscreants’ deliver uniformly authentic performances…A theatre piece that scrapes away at the stolid underbelly of American morality with surgical precision and a merciless zeal to heal.” Full Review

"For 90 fast-paced minutes, this sexy, heart-pounding production never fails to entertain...With nine actors playing three dozen characters, Spencer-Jones directs the play with just enough detail to capture the story's big ideas. Provocative as those ideas are, however, the story often takes a back seat to other elements of the production, such as the chiseled, bare-chested actors...The highly stylized choreography tamps down the viciousness. But that's not a bad thing." Full Review

"Makes a powerful statement, though it falls just short of a knockout...Director Alexandra Spencer-Jones created a language of savagery in this stripped-down, stylized production that's as engrossing as it is disturbing...But after the initial shock of brutality, the rest of the play fails to produce the same heightened impact. And while the message is clear, the work lacks the emotional punch in the gut that Burgess intended." Full Review

“A revisionist look at the classic Anthony Burgess novel from 1962, the stage version of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ may throw you for a loop in more than one way. With its emphasis on choreographed movements and highly stylized acrobatics, the production--a British import--becomes more of a performance piece than a play. But the story of Alex and his ‘droog’ comrades in violence is still there--even if it's something less than front and center.” Full Review

"Intense and erotic...Marvelously choreographed...It all happens in race-against-the-clock speed, packing the story into 90 minutes on an intimate stage with an ensemble of excellent actors playing multiple characters...Not only is the cast made up of excellent actors, but their physical bodies are ripped and cut unbelievably...Truly, the beatings and rapes, though choreographed, are still extremely graphic and disturbing." Full Review

"Has the slickness and the eroticism that generally helps fill the seats, but oddly feels a bit more shallow and a tad less emotionally connecting. There is definitely a strong precise vision of how to tell this complicated and violent story through the impressive and athletic choreography and stagecraft, and that aspect works majestically...The production is loud and exciting, glossy and sharp, sure to attract the crowds it deserves...This play leaves you titillated but emotionally disengaged." Full Review

"Less a conventional stage play than a high-voltage homoerotic dance drama...Never less than watchable, thanks to some thrilling choreography and to its graceful, hunky nine-member cast...The author’s sly morality tale is still there for the diligent theatergoer, the story of ultraviolent Alex, a menace to society, who becomes menaced by society...To his credit, Burgess offers no pat answers, and lets no one off the hook, not even himself." Full Review

"A startlingly conceived, brave piece of physical theatre...That nobody is struck in the play does take something away from the implied hideousness of the violence...The disadvantage of a compact cast, no matter how talented, is that the story and characters become confusing...Still, the cast conjure dramatic miracles from thin air...Despite the holes in the text and confusing characterization, there remains something electrifyingly watchable about this production." Full Review

“Davies anchors the piece with maniacal precision and vulnerability...He and his equally sexually charged all-male ensemble deftly move their way through Jones’ physical staging…Davies is best at dialing back but others in the ensemble subscribe to ‘more is more’ with fire and brimstone delivery that occasionally undermines the script. That being said, as a whole, the multicultural cast takes on a slew of characters with deft clarity and physicalization.” Full Review

“You might remember Stanley Kubrick’s film...A chilling depiction of totally amoral youths who call themselves ‘Droogs’...In the film, the Droogs’ victims are played by other actors; here, the actors playing the Droogs also play their victims, which undercuts the shock of what the Droogs inflict on them, making the play seem more or less like silly game-playing. That said, Spencer-Jones’ highly choreographed production is sensational, as is British actor Davies as Alex.” Full Review

"It’s all very loud with primal screaming and distorted grumbling, sometimes difficult to understand the actual words, but easy enough to get the meaning of all the simulations...This is a high-energy production of fine actors. However, if you’re prone to closing your eyes in such circumstances as described, better not even bother attempting to be in the audience. Not for the faint of heart!" Full Review

“Casual observers of the play can marvel at the sinewy, shirtless, Lego-abdominal wonder of it all. But at times, it is their exuberant buoyancy that challenges the notion of whether this version of droog mishaps should necessarily be avoided on a dark night…At its very best, 'A Clockwork Orange' shows us the jubilance in ferociousness…The physical precision executed here is inventive and impressive.” Full Review

"The show is full of pop and rock songs, at times unintelligible dialogue, exciting choreography, along with plenty of homoeroticism. There is still rape and violence, but–with perhaps one exception–it never shakes you up or makes you uncomfortable...But there are plenty of places in TV, film and, yes, real life to see excessive violence. And credit Spencer-Jones for daring to try something new. And there is a certain beauty to seeing the actors...thrash around for 90 minutes." Full Review

"Crackles with kinetic energy, punctuated by precise choreographed sequences...The ultraviolence depicted on stage is stylized and set to fun music...The violence here is artfully composed and provides ample shock-horror, but without any emotional weight...This is a play that will raise your heart rate, but it left me uncertain whether it was celebrating or criticizing the testosterone-frenzy it depicts. As a satire, I’m not entirely sure it succeeded, but it gave me plenty to talk about." Full Review

"While September is admittedly very early to make predictions about an entire theater season, it’s hard to imagine there will be a more spectacular NY stage debut than the one being given by Davies...But Spencer-Jones rather oversimplifies the philosophical discussions. Indeed, one often feels that style has overtaken substance throughout much of the play’s 90-minute running time, with some sections, striking as they are, skirting a little too close to a pure modern dance performance." Full Review

"Alexandra Spencer-Jones’s stage production is visceral, energetic, and well choreographed...Songs by Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Beth Ditto form the backdrop of this 90-minute rethinking, which I found a little one-note and wearisome, while still admiring its tenacity." Full Review

"Vigorously acted and bluntly entertaining...I’d like to think that the steroidal bodies and all-purpose sexiness are intended as a deliberate distraction, a gotcha embellishment meant to implicate the audience for failing to reckon with the full horror of Alex’s actions. But Ms. Spencer-Jones doesn’t deliver on such high-minded intentions. The violence never lets up, but as it’s set to synth-heavy Beethoven riffs, it also never lands." Full Review

"An exciting, if not altogether realized, queer take on a classic...The story’s details are too frequently lost in a gyrating and sometimes chaotic churn...The burden of storytelling often proves too much for the actors’ bodies alone...Scenes of violence and delusion are played as erotic ballets, which are beautiful to watch and often just as confusing to interpret...The absence of flesh-and-blood women in a story so much about misogyny and violent male desire robs the play of its teeth." Full Review

"[A]fter an hour or so the play begins to drag, becoming thematically monotonous." Full Review

"Amounts to a ninety-minute howl of rage; meant to electrify, more often it induces fatigue...The characters are purposely two-dimensional, performed on the far edge of caricature...As in the film, all of Spencer-Jones' diligent -- and often effective -- work obscures the fact that Burgess was concerned with matters philosophical...One can admire the skill and commitment of all involved while simultaneously wishing that they would stop so furiously pressing their case." Full Review

"An erotic word ballet that finds beauty in the well-chiseled male form through highly stylized acts of choreographed violence...What any of it has to do with Burgess' classic dystopian novel is anyone's guess...The charismatic Davies admirably throws himself into the physically and emotionally demanding role...But...the production limply trudges through its overwhelmed emotional dramatics...Having a unique vision is great, but not when it's done at the expense of the text." Full Review

"What is happening at New World Stages in 'A Clockwork Orange' has me scratching my head...The men of the cast are chiseled, buff, and beautiful on the outside. But on the inside, they are warped, sadistic, and their vicious foreplay borders on homoerotic...Davies as Alex is hauntingly brilliant...This 'A Clockwork Orange' glorifies criminal behavior, making it sexy. Suddenly the world feels not so safe and this show seems way too long." Full Review

"While the staging is sometimes visually arresting, the meanings are hard to grasp...Davies is ultra dynamic and carries the production, which is consistently very busy as it races through the tale...There are merely nods to such ideas as expressed in the film version, but they are lost in the onslaught of masculine physicality that is highlighted in this staging. The result is loud and extremely busy without emphasizing what 'A Clockwork Orange' is really all about." Full Review