A Clockwork Orange: A Play With Music

By Anthony Burgess, adapted from his novel

Directed by D Granke

Mar. 4 – 27, 2022

Tickets start at $29.50

Preview Performances: Mar. 2 – 3 | Tickets start at: $18

Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts

Approximate runtime: 85 minutes with no intermission

What It's About

Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange lures audiences into a glass-edged, testosterone-filled underworld of a dystopian future. In 1962, the explosive tale of little Alex and his band of Droogs was a ground-breaking insta-classic teeming with sexuality and “a bit of the old ultra-violence.” The story feels as haunting today as when the book was published in 1962 and when Stanley Kubrick’s Oscar-nominated film caused a stir in 1971. Not to be confused with that translation, this adaptation for the stage was done by Burgess himself in a process that began in 1987.

At its heart, A Clockwork Orange is a Christian allegory about free will. As Burgess states in the preface to the script: "Man is defined by his capacity to choose courses of moral action. If he chooses good, he must have the possibility of choosing evil instead." In Burgess’s view, this message was lacking in Kubrick’s film, so in the play he repeatedly hammers this point home ... Burgess also uses the play to emphasise another important aspect of the original book, that in his view had been brushed aside: ‘the capacity of human nature to change’. Thus, in the play, we see the twenty-first chapter, omitted from the film and US editions of the novel, restored, allowing the audience to understand the story in its entirety. – The Guardian

History and Context

First, we cannot make this clear enough, do not come expecting a stage version of the movie. It’s simply not.

This play has enjoyed a global reach and enduring success since publication, including a production by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1990 with music by Bono and the Edge, a Steppenwolf production starring Nick Offerman, and a 2018 Everyman production described by the Guardian as “a chilling, ultra violent cabaret.”

Our Production

Jobsite’s production uses a youthful ensemble of ten under the direction of D Granke. Donovan Whitney takes on Alex, supported William Alejandro Barbra, Jada Canty, Kiara Flowers, Amanda Heisey, Haley Janeda, Daniel Lennox, Jr., Brianna McVaugh, Omen Sade, and Jared Sellick who bring to life all of the other characters in Burgess’ tale. Jeremy Douglass provides a sound design, Katrina Stevenson costumes, Brian Smallheer the set and projections, and Jo Averill-Snell the lights.

This is Jobsite’s first time back in the Shimberg Playhouse since March of 2020 – a full two years.

(L-R) Brianna McVaugh, Donovan Whitney, and Jared Sellick in Jobsite's A Clockwork Orange. (Photo: Ned Averill-Snell)

The Ensemble of Jobsite's A Clockwork Orange.

Omen Thomas Sade, Donovan Whitney, Brianna McVaugh, and William Alejandro Barba in Jobsite's A Clockwork Orange. (Photo: Ned Averill-Snell)

(L-R) William Alejandro Barba, Brianna McVaugh, Donovan Whitney, and Omen Thomas Sade in Jobsite's A Clockwork Orange.

Critic Reviews

A superb production … stylistically beautiful … A Clockwork Orange: A Play with Music is exceptional … this is Jobsite as it was meant to be … Raw, emotional, and powerful … this cast is formidable and exquisite from top to bottom. – BroadwayWorld