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| UPDATED
EVERY THURSDAY
Thursday
30th October 2003 |
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| All
content © New Journal Enterprises, 2003 |
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| REVIEWS |
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BY ROBERT TANITCH |
OF MICE AND MEN |
JOHN Steinbeck’s
unforgettable story of loneliness and friendship, published and dramatised
in 1937, was conceived as a play in novella form and that is why is
works so well in the theatre.
The action is set during the American Depression when up to 15 million
people were out of work and the American Dream had gone sour. Originally
called Something That Happened, it is the precursor to his masterpiece,
The Grapes of Wrath, and as eloquent as Dorothea Lange’s photographs
of the same era.
Steinbeck was always deeply compassionate for the underprivileged.
George and Lennie, two migrant labourers in California, are poor,
hungry and homeless. Lennie (Matthew Kelly), a huge, mentally retarded
man, is unable to take care of himself and easily frightened. Essentially
kind, he doesn’t know his own strength and accidentally kills
the things he loves best when he is petting them – mice, puppies
and rabbits.
George (George Costigan), his cousin, is also his minder and, though
he never stops complaining about having to look after him, he needs
Lennie as much as Lennie needs him. George spends all the money they
earn in bars, gambling houses and brothels, rather than saving it
for their dream-farm. They are doomed to be migrants forever.
John Church’s production, stunningly lit by Tim Mitchell, is
first-rate and the acting of Kelly (physically a natural for Lennie)
and Costigan is utterly compelling. The audience is so totally involved
throughout that the cast has the confidence to hold one of the longest
pauses I have heard in the West End. The magnified sound of fingers
being broken is electrifying and I defy anybody not to be moved by
the powerful climax.
The book has always been popular with schoolchildren on both sides
of the Atlantic and I hope very much that schools will take their
pupils to see this production.
n Savoy Theatre
020 7836 8888
Until December 6 |
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