This is a brand new interpretation of John Steinbeck’s 1939 masterpiece novel, initially adapted for the stage in 1990 by Tony Award-winning Frank Galati, and now completely updated for today’s audience.
Steinbeck’s great novels – Nobel and Pulitzer prize-winning – including Of Mice And Men, The Pearl, The Grapes Of Wrath, and his final beautiful travelogue Travels With Charley, all reveal the man’s mastery of narrative, characterisation, dialogue and atmosphere, yet above all his compassion for ordinary people.
The Grapes Of Wrath is set during America’s Great Depression, the family leaving the misery of the Oklahoma dust bowl for the “Promised Land” of California in search of work, a new life, and happiness.
Creative director of this production Abbey Wright nails today’s connections with migration, danger, displacement, and the simple need for family love.
Reinforcing the play’s bleak atmosphere, the music and vocals created by Matt Regan are deliberately jarringly discordant, aching with pain, frustration and hurt.
The imaginative set design and dark atmospheric lighting emphasise the menace, fear and fright of these itinerant workers.
And Fight Director Philip d’Orleans adds horrific realism to the violent death (and birth) scenes.
The pivotal characters of Ma and Pa, brilliantly played by Julia Swift and Charlie Folorunsho, are moving proof of the integrity, strength and perseverance of Steinbeck’s human spirit.
And the shocking final scene retains the novel’s controversy.
This wonderful production utilises a 50-strong community company of Southampton residents.
Brendan McCusker
The Grapes of Wrath runs until March 25. Tickets: 023 8067 1771 or nstheatres.co.uk.
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