Of Mice and Men
By John Steinbeck. Adapted and directed by Iain Sinclair
A Sport For Jove Theatre Company and Seymour Theatre Co-production
The Playhouse. Canberra Theatre Centre. August 6-8 2015
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
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| Andrew Henry as Lennie and Anthony Gooley as George in Sport For Jove Theatre Company's production of Of Mice and Men |
Director Iain Sinclair has
established a formidable reputation as a director with remarkable insight into
the inner souls of humanity’s vast tapestry of human nature. His minimalist production of Thornton Wilder's
Our Town, demonstrated his allegiance
to the playwright’s intent, abandoning the trappings of theatricality for the
truth of human nature and the population of a small American town in the Thirties,
written shortly after Steinbeck’s Of Mice
and Men. Under Sinclair’ direction, Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding in the Sydney Theatre company’s Wharf Theatre
pulsated with the passion, the longing and the fatalism of the Spanish
characters, caught in the web of Fate. Set
in a small Soho nightclub during the shady era of gangland warfare and against
the backdrop of rock ‘n roll revolution
Jez Butterworth’s Mojo, again in the intimate Wharf Theatre, illustrates
Sinclair’s adroit and empathetic insight into the actions and motivations of
the disenfranchised, the disempowered ,the
powerful and the powerless, the oppressors and the oppressed. Sinclair’s
production and adaptation of Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men is a dramaturgical and directorial triumph. This
co-production by Sport For Jove Theatre Company and the Seymour Centre is
another jewel in Sinclair’s growing list of crowning achievements
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| AndrewHenry as Lennie. Andre de Vanny as Curley |
Every aspect of Sport for Jove’s
staging of Steinbeck’s classic tale of George Milton (Anthony Gooley ) and
simple minded, gentle giant, Lennie Small (Andrew Henry ), struggling to survive
during the Great Depression has been meticulous in its attention to detail,
truthful recreation of period and reverent acknowledgement of Steinbeck’s
superlative art as chronicler of his time and observer of his fellow men and
women. From the outset, the gentle
strumming of You Are My Sunshine sets the tone of ironic fate. Echoing the lines of Robert Burns’ poem, “The
best laid plans of mice and men go awry”, Steinbeck’s novella in the
accomplished hands of the Sport for Jove Theatre Company in co-production with
the Seymour Centrepaints a bleak portrait of broken dreams and fractured
fortune. George and Lennie dream of a place of their own, where Lennie can tend
the soft and cuddly rabbits. Candy (Laurence
Coy ) also offers to contribute $350 towards the cost of the farm to escape the
hardships of his physical decline. Known only as Curly’s wife, Anna Houston plays
the only woman and ill-fated victim in the production. Jealously guarded by Curley
(Andre de Vanny), son of The Boss (Terry Serio), the lonely and attractive wife
dreams of fame and fortune in Hollywood. Others, like the alienated black
worker, Crooks (Charles Allen ) are resigned to rejection, loneliness and the
cruel twist of fate. The philosophical Slim (Christopher Stollery) has found
his niche as arbitrator and protector, demonstrating a humanity that would in
better circumstances provide a more rewarding life. Carlson (John McNeill) and
Whit (Tom Stokes) accept their lot and cope as best they can with the life they
have been given. Some are born to their lot; some accept their fate and some
struggle to break free. Steinbeck’s saga of the underdog, bearing the yoke of
misfortune, cries a protest against unjust irony within a disparate society.
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| Lennie (Andrew Henry) and Curley's Wife (Anna Houston) |
Sport For Jove’s production offers
a compelling and soul-stirring insight into Steinbeck’s world. Sinclair’s
casting is immaculate and his actors search deep within themselves and their
text to discover a profound truth to their characters. Each actor discovers a
unique distinctiveness to their characters, which not only impresses their
individual lives upon the audience, but layers performance with a startling reality
and truth. The deep bond between George and Lenny, whose inadvertent strength
and affection for tender creatures, leads to the ultimate tragedy reveals
itself with moving power in the performances of Gooley and Henry. Candy’s love
for his old sheepdog lends greater pathos to the killing of his beloved pet and
is sensitively captured in Coy’s performance.
And finally, Sinclair’s cast capture superbly the tragic inevitability
of lives, destined to be so cruelly cast aside upon the flotsam and jetsam of a
society that condemns them to an unjust fate. The best laid plans may go awry
and do so violently in Steinbeck’s partly autobiographical novel. In Of Mice and Men, and most specifically
in Sport For Jove’s magnificent production, the words of Shakespeare’s Cassius does
not take into account America during the Great Depression and its impact on the
ordinary working man and woman, when he says “The fault dear Brutus is not in
our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.”
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| Candy, Whit (Tom Stokes), George, Lennie and Curley's Wife |
Nothing has been overlooked to
render this production Of Mice and Men amongst the finest expression of
Steinbeck’s gritty and disturbing world that you are likely to see. Add to the magnificent casting and intellectually and emotionally inspired
direction the evocative and authentic setting by Michael Hankin and Sian
James-Holland’s subtle and atmospheric lighting design, and audiences can
expect a theatrical piece de resistance which is impossible to resist. Sport
For Jove’s triumph is enough to cause an unprecedented rush on bookshops to
once again thrill to Steinbeck’ writings. That is the company’s gift to their
audiences.