Theatre Royal Haymarket

When the Talkies started, Hitchcock musing complained that so many of the films were poor because all they had done was to take plays and produce ‘talking heads’. The art of the film maker had been lost, i.e. the telling of the story through pictures that you see. Ironic then that he should make ‘Dial M for Murder’ the Frederick Knott play in 3D and set it in one room! Also ironic then that there is a trend to take iconic films and turn them back into plays. I enjoyed ‘The Graduate’, but to be honest it sold because we were all waiting to see the film star idol playing Mrs Robinson.
There is a danger that people might just see ‘On The Waterfront’ just to see Steven Berkoff playing Johnny Friendly, or to count how many reincarnations there are of Marlon Brando at different stages of his film career, I counted three before I became more absorbed with the theatrical event I was experiencing. ‘On The Waterfront’ is a masterpiece of the art of Steven Berkoff. Each stylised move and word recreating the steamy world of the Hoboken waterfront on an empty stage.
DVD versions of the film are now sold out in shops. I know because I tried to get a copy. My memory is of watching and falling asleep as a child on a Sunday afternoon. Interest level not very high and what did I care about this world of New York. Well now I realise I should have cared. The mafia dominated unions profiting from the oppressed working class that they should have been protecting is a moral lesson for us all. Father Barry is a key character, there is another way, the right way to do things. In order for us to coexist with each other we need to stand up for and to protect all of us from the corruption that is inherent within our world. But doing the right thing is not easy, there is a beating that is awaiting us all and only the brave, only the just and brave can endure.
Do not see this play because you liked the film, do not see this play because you liked Marlon Brando.
See this play because you like theatre at its sublime best. For this play with its stylisation is theatre at its sublime best and reminds you what is so often missing from watching talking heads.
Reviewed by Evan Rule