THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
By Clifford Odets
Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, London, N1 1TA until October 31, 2026
“Then fight for something, not money” pleads Stanley Townsend as Joe Bonaparte’s, Italian immigrant, fruit seller father to his violinist son who has turned to professional boxing in Odets’ classic Depression era play. Joe is played by screen star Josh O’Connor – the reason for the sold out run. O’Connor is perfect. What other actor of his generation and star status could so perfectly embody both a boxer and a pianist? With his wiry frame and abs of steel he captures both the cockiness and the volcanic anger, but also the soft-spoken, emotional fragility of Odets’ typical hero, here torn between getting rich quick in the boxing ring and living a more noble life of artistic fulfillment.
And this is the problem with the play. Too often it’s a labored parable of how capitalism eats the soul. Today, one wonders if he’d be an influencer rather than a boxer!
Odets himself was a rather complex character who ended up testifying in the McCarthy hearings, from which his career never really recovered, unlike that of his friend Elia Kazan. When first performed by the famous Group Theatre in 1937 it, of course, touched the zeitgeist and Odets was lauded for another play about how the working-class struggle to maintain personal dignity when faced with social injustice. Within two years it was made into a hit Hollywood film which launched the career of William Holden, but today it seems over egged. Joe’s union organizer brother Frank (Richard Fleeshman) for example is the somber, priggish, conscience of the piece.
Kudos must go to director Sam Yates (who created the fabulous Vanya with Andrew Scott) who has crafted a Rolls Royce of a production from this Ford of a play. Every element is brilliantly polished and carefully thought out: from Rosanna Vize’s stunning period naturalistic design; to James Farncombe’s painterly lighting; to Dan Balfour’s intense sound score; to Kate Waters’ inventive fight direction which artfully places the pugilists punching each other through a bloodied punch bag; to the stunning addition of a live string quartet who are revealed behind a shuttered window and play an arresting modern score by Isobel Waller-Bridge. It begins, for example, with an exquisite tableau of the boy Joe (Oscar Prout) practicing his violin.
The ensemble acting couldn’t be better, led by Townsend as the father. The great Daniel (Line of Duty) Mays steals every scene he is in as the spiv manager, Tom, who also gets embroiled in a love triangle along with Joe and girlfriend Lorna Moon. Hayley Squires shines as Lorna, a modern, multi-layered woman, pragmatically defensive and managing to hold her own in this very macho world. The only discordant note is Zubin Varla, who pitches the mobster Eddie Fuseli, who wants to ‘buy out’ Joe, at the level of Panto villain.
The problem is the text, though, which lurches from dialogue infused with the poetic eloquence of a Tennessee Williams or Arthur Miller to scenes of morose melodrama which outstay their welcome. Towards the end Yates takes it all off on an Expressionist jaunt (helped by the string quartet) and it loses its purchase on our emotions with an ending that is utterly muddled.
In the end I’m not sure any director can really balance the social critique, the melodrama and the delicate poetry the piece strives for here, but this is a very noble attempt. The reason to see it is O’Connor’s commanding performance and this great cast, and you’ll have a chance at the Almeida until October 31 then on November 5 when it will be broadcast to cinemas worldwide via NT Live at https://www.ntlive.com/plays/golden-boy/
