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.