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The Future is Here! Meet the Cast of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
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Nov 4, 2022
Direct from a sold-out, critically-acclaimed London run, director Alexandra Spencer-Jones's electrifying stage production of A Clockwork Orange, based on Anthony Burgess' 1962 literary masterpiece, begins previews Saturday, September 2, 2017, with an opening night of Monday, September 25, 2017, for a limited Off-Broadway engagement through January 6, 2018. This production celebrates the centennial of Anthony Burgess' birth, in 1917.
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0:00
Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
0:02
Following a critically acclaimed, award-winning, sold-out run in London, A Clockwork Orange has come to the New York stage
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Opening on September 25th at New World Stages, we drop by bar nine to meet the company
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led by the show's breakout star, Jono Davies. You've had quite a history with this piece in London
0:20
You've been with the piece for how long? Three and a half years. Wow. So very much on and off, though
0:25
So it's like a week here, a week there. The London run was about five weeks
0:29
so that's the longest I've done, but this is a whole new kettle of fish. You know, this is a good 20-week or however long it is
0:35
So, yeah, it's exciting. It's really exciting. How physical is this role for you
0:40
Yeah, physically, emotionally, vocally, all of it, it's draining. It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of self-preservation
0:48
when it comes to food, sleep, not drinking too much, unfortunately. I mean, when you play Alex the Large for 90 minutes
0:56
the first thing you want to do is have a stiff drink just to calm your nerves a little bit
1:00
But unfortunately, that's not something we can do. You've already started performances here
1:04
You opened officially on September 25th. What's it been like bringing this to a New York audience
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And for you as a director, being in the audience, watching how your show affects the audience
1:13
It's brilliant for me because I find New York audiences at the same time as incredibly intellectual and thoughtful
1:20
very generous and willing. They want to listen. They want to be there
1:24
They want to enjoy They want to celebrate And they want to learn and so I really enjoyed seeing them respond Amazing For amazing US company you put together for this show Yeah they incredible
1:36
I've been blessed with that. I got all my first choices, and they are all physical, all warriors
1:42
brilliant Shakespearean actors as well. They can sing, but I only use it very slightly, you know
1:49
I've had a ball, and we're working hard still. We've just come from a four-hour physical rehearsal
1:55
and so the work continues, and it does for a long time. I'm really proud of them, though. I'm really proud
2:01
Did you know the book first? Did you know the film first? I did. I knew the book first, because actually I grew up in Northern California
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and the book was required reading in high school, which is strange. But that's what happens when you grow up in San Francisco
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So I read the book in high school, and because I couldn't understand the book
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because it is so dense and has its own language and everything and its own slang, I tried to watch the movie
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And I was so disturbed by the film at a 15, I turned it off within 10 minutes and went back to the book
2:32
and was like, how am I going to pass this test? Now you're here. I hear audiences are loving the show
2:36
You're already in previews. You open officially on the 25th of September. How cool is it listening to the way the audience reacts to the show
2:43
I mean, it's great. There are audible reactions during the show. There's certain moments that get gasps
2:48
Yeah, we've had people leave almost every show. Push those buttons, it's great
2:53
That's what theater does. It great really honestly because it not it is for everyone but it not for everyone It might not be what everyone thinks it is when they come in to see it which is really really interesting And it been great to hear people responses from friends and otherwise
3:05
I heard that the callbacks were intense for this. What was the callbacks like and how did you find out you got it
3:10
It was intense. The final callback was about six and a half hours long
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It was three hours of dancing, warm-ups. The entire floor was sweaty
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Everybody walked out looking like they just ran a marathon. on. There was a lot of
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improv work, a lot of ensemble work. I felt like they really wanted to get to know you
3:29
It went beyond your talent, your skill set. I remember when I was done
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I was just kind of flooded with emotions. What the hell just happened the last six hours
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I ran over to Central Park, got a beer, and just sat on a rock drinking. I was like, I don't know what just happened
3:43
The audition was like a P90X exercise. The majority of the audition was trying
3:49
not to vomit. But after that, it made the acting very easy, very natural
3:55
Was yours crazy, too, with everybody? Oh, yeah. We were actually in the same room
3:59
And we both did the same thing where they kept on going, like, work out, work out, work out
4:04
Here, can you read for this? Here, can you read for this? Here, can you read for this? How's your Northern Irish
4:08
How's your Scottish? Yeah. How are your push-ups? Were you turned on to the book first
4:13
Were you turned on to the film? What was your history with A Clockwork Hard? Oh, yeah. I came across the film when I was growing up
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and it was one of those things that my parents wouldn't let me watch. And then I have an older brother and older sister
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so it kind of bled through the floorboards anyway And then came across the book in high school kind of read it came back to the book now just before the auditions and whatnot and kind of got subsumed by it So yeah
4:36
I encountered the movie first. I love the movie. I've loved it since I was probably too young to
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love that movie. And I read the book in high school too, but part of the audition process
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and getting the role was reading the book again and going back and learning more about it. It's been really kind of educational. The book has a lot of little bits and pieces that are
4:53
grown into the play. Now look where you are, and now here we are. And I revisited the film, obviously, later on in life
4:59
And, you know, I think it's always going to be a relevant story
5:05
It's really, really special to be a part of this right now because it is so challenging
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to deal with this subject matter and to deal with this story
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Everything that's happening in our country right now, our first week of rehearsals
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Charlottesville happened. and I sat there and I was feeling the same thing
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that I think a lot of people were feeling in this country which is that is shameful, that is disgusting, that is not okay
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and that's it. And you change the channel and you say I'm not going to deal with that, that's not okay
5:35
What a story like this forces you to do and I think why it's so challenging for audience members
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is it forces you to examine the souls of those people and understand them on a human level
5:45
which when they're doing such horrible acts of violence and crime, it can be a really, really difficult thing and a very uncomfortable thing to do
5:55
And I think that's what's so remarkable about what he's written
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