IT is great to see the 7:84/Dundee Rep co-production of Steinbeck on
the Citizens' stage if only to add another bizarre vehicle to my
personal list. The jalopy in which the share-cropping family set off for
California is not as ludicrous as the Escort cabriolet in Judith, and
almost attains the central role of Mother Courage's battlewagon, as
driven by Glenda Jackson.
More seriously, the presence of a theatrical truck on stage indicates
the scale of Iain Reekie's show. This is widescreen theatre. Emphasised
by Mark Leese's simple but dramatic wooden set, which lets in different
qualities of light through a vast shutter downstage, there is an
exaggerated cinematic quality to the piece. When Reekie first came to
our attention it was with his production of 12 Angry Men for Theatre
Positive; here he is using the movies to change the way we look at the
stage.
The problem with the approach and with the symbolic obsession with the
elements -- real fire, real earth, and real water -- is that it
threatens to upstage the actors. While many of the performances --
particularly Anne Kidd's Ma and Tom McGovern's Casy -- connect, there is
a curious distance about the whole affair that makes the intimate
auditorium of the Citz seem cavernous.
But be in no doubt that this a real 7:84 show, in the best traditions
of the company. You could trace the themes of land ownership and the
role of religion back to The Cheviot, the Stag with no difficulty at
all. The music is as beautifully integrated into the show as it was
under previous regimes. And the sentimentality of the American Dream is
as cloying as our post-industrial nostalgia.
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