REVIEW OF AN ARTS EVENT:

Daisy Maule

OF MICE AND MEN – STAGE PRODUCTION:Recently I went to a cinema screening of a National Theatre Live Production of Of Mice and Men at Poole Lighthouse.

It starred James Franco as George and Chris O’dowd as Lennie and was directed by Anna Shapiro.

PLOT SUMMARY: ‘John Steinbeck's 1937 classic tale of two travelling companions, George and Lennie, who wander the country during the Depression, dreaming of a better life for themselves. Then, just as heaven is within their grasp, it is inevitably yanked away. The film follows Steinbeck's novel closely, exploring questions of strength, weakness, usefulness, reality and utopia, bringing Steinbeck's California vividly to life.’

REVIEW: James Franco, famously known for 127 Hours, stars as George in Of Mice and Men. Choosing Franco for this role was a sensible idea because his appearance already slightly reflects Gary Sinise’s appearance in the first ever film made of Of Mice and Men in 1992. This is important as Sinise’s portrayal of George was the very first visual substance given due to the story being written by John Steinbeck with no drawings, just simply a description of George. As Franco’s appearance is relatively similar, we can believe straightaway that he is portraying the character of George, as opposed to some casting where the actor isn’t very believable as the character they are meant to be. Choosing James Franco was also a relatively good idea because of the fact he is already an established actor with experience. He has also won a Golden Globe for his acting.

The casting of Chris O’dowd as Lennie was also a success as he somewhat reflects John Malkovich in the 1992 film. Chris O’dowd works well as Lennie due to his physical structure as well. He is quite tall and fits the description of Lennie well. He takes on Lennie’s accent well, making it impressive due to him naturally having a very different accent.

The mise en scene throughout the play is one of the things that make the performance so brilliant:

The costumes for each character work so perfectly, reflecting the era and the character both at the same time.

The settings are brilliant as they vary from scene to scene and with it being a stage production, it can be hard to make complex settings as they constantly need to be moved around quickly. However, this is not the case here as the settings reflect the story well and are visually pleasing:

Sound was also done to a high standard, reflecting the most dramatic moments when necessary and the dialogue sticks closely to the original dialogue in the book by Steinbeck.

Overall, this National Theatre Production of Of Mice and Men deserves attentions because of the fact it takes a story set in the late 1930’s and modernises it through the use of actors relevant to modern times, complex, pleasing and consistent settings and developing and sustaining the audiences attention while still keeping the traditional characters, storyline and dialogue. This stage production also deserves attention simply by the fact it is a stage production and not a slightly modernised movie of Of Mice and Men so to keep the audiences’ attention for the three hours or so is an achievement in itself, especially due to talk of decreasing attention span and effort of society. There are many brilliant aspects that were involved in this play and it is the coming together of all of these at once that make it what it has become.

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