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John Steinbeck’s well-loved story of enduring companionship and shattered dreams Of Mice and Men has seen many a film and stage adaptation. South-East London’s Broadway Theatre is the latest to take on this staple of the UK’s GCSE syllabus.
George Milton (
Arron Kelly) and Lennie Small (
Thomas Renshaw) form an unlikely friendship during the Great Depression in late-1930’s America. They travel together from one job as a field-hand to the next. The two men couldn’t be more different in stature or temperament. Quick-witted George is slight, short-tempered and fiercely protective of his friend Lennie, a gentle-giant with severe learning difficulties and little understanding of his own considerable strength. With an obsession for soft material and cute furry animals, Lennie pets them so hard he often unwittingly crushes them under his might.
The victims of his fetish for softness are getting larger and George is concerned this could cause the two friends long-term problems especially at their new job where the boss’s pugnacious son, Curley suffers from a short-man complex and aims his ire at poor, unsuspecting Lennie.
Directed by Cameron Jack, the Broadway’s adaptation of
Of Mice and Men is a minimalist affair with no elaborate props or costume changes. Perhaps this is to emphasise the men’s bereft existence or due to budgetary restrictions; one can’t really tell. In any case it seems most apt. It’s also a relief to discover how faithful the script stays to Steinbeck’s text; the violent scenes are staged particularly
