THEATRE: The Grapes of Wrath
NO-ONE should underestimate the impact or public debate created by Steinbeck's novel when it was published in 1939.
Through the eyes of a fictional family, the Joads, it depicted the real-life human tragedy of thousands upon thousands of farmworkers from Oklahoma who were forced to migrate by economic calamity, changes in the agricultural industry, and drought.
They headed to California's Central Valley - the land of milk and honey - where they were promised homes and good jobs picking the fruit in this lush and fruitful country.
But like the lands they had left behind, their dreams turns to dust. Too many families seeking too few seasonal jobs resulted in mass exploitation, mulnutrition, and social unrest.
This clever adaptation at Chichester Festival Theatre captures perfectly - not least through the projected advertising hoardings on the set's backdrop - the contrast between the high standards of living that most enjoyed through the 'American dream' and the reality for these 'Okies'.
Just like the book, this is a grim and uncompromising portrayal of hardship and human tragedy on a massive scale. Opening with the return of Tom Joad, paroled from prison for killing someone, and finding the family home repossessed and all but destroyed - the journey and eventual arrival at the 'promised land' is dark.
The play retains much of the book's power - the religious and political overtones and undertones; the real sense of misery. And it stands in stark contrast to 'Oklahoma' the musical which plays in repertoire with it.
The set is a splendid construction, built on slopes that create a real sense of a world being torn up by its roots.
And there are scenes of extraordinary potence, made more so by contrast with the unremitting bleakness of so much of the plot's substance; The swim in the river - which sends cascades of water into the auditorium - and the thunderstorm towards the end (made all the more curious by a real and parallel storm thundering outside the theatre in echo on press night).
There are some truly great performances too - not least from Sorcha Cusack as Ma Joad and Oliver Cotton as Rev Jim Casy - a preacher who has lost his faith in the old religion and ultimately loses his life too in the battle to protect the exploited. The sharing of his name's initials with Jesus Christ is unlikely to have been coincidental.
The play, of course, will not be to all tastes. As a slice of social history it is a remarkable achievement - but there is no joy to be discerned. There is, too, a warning for us all - for the plight of the Joads was the result of economic crisis and environmental folly. The past can have an unhappy knack of returning.
Next time, the dust bowls may not be confined to the southern plains of the USA.
Gary Shipton
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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