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And.

Micky Jo (Theatre Critic and Host) (6:41)

And therein we find some of the justification, I think, for adapting this to the stage. Because, you know, the entire concept of a Western, I think so much of it is in the scenery. And to do all of it in this wooden paneled set that scarcely varies, with a cast of sort of similarly dressed characters. Aesthetically, you know, we are of the location, but we are of really just one sense of the location. We don't have these, like, rolling panoramic views, any of that kind of a thing. And what's curious is this is not the only recent production to feature a clock on stage and the idea of time ticking down until this revelation. Adapter Eric Roth even describes the story at play here as being sort of a Greek Tragedy. And it reminded me immediately of Robert Icke's version of Oedipus, recently seen in the West End, currently playing at Studio 54 on Broadway, which has a ticking down digital clock display on one side of the stage, at the culmination of which this dreadful revelation emerges. The obvious implication in High Noon is that when we eventually get to noon itself, there is going to be some kind of a shootout. That is, if Will doesn't make the decision to flee the town first. Because in the hundred or so minutes counting down to that moment, it's this constant morality battle between him and almost everyone else he comes into conversation with, who tries to persuade him to get out and save himself, and that he isn't doing the right thing by himself, his new bride, or necessarily the people of the town. We encounter many different perspectives on this, the majority of which unfold reasonably slowly. And that's the key thing that separates this from something like you, is the real time in Oedipus feels like real time. It truly feels immediate and urgent to the extent that, like, there are reasons for them moving the scenery around on stage, they are stripping down this political office. And there are moments that feel menial and everything feels organic and real and honest. And in this, it feels like the whole thing is happening over about 12 hours, even though it's meant to be less than two. For one thing, he's sort of on stage in every single scene. But we have seen trends, transitions that have him going from one part of town to another. And the hands on the clock don't seem to have moved enough to justify him having any kind of travel time between those locations unless the town is the size of like Animal Crossing. And I wouldn't feel the need to be slightly so pedantic if the whole thing felt like it had any sense of urgency or pace, but it's so inherently slow and steady and relaxed. He goes to persuade all of these different people to join him as volunteer deputies to meet the the small three person mob that is going to be coming, the train station, the two who are going to go and join Frank Miller. And as he goes from person to person, from building to building, trying to rally support and meeting opposition for a whole host of different reasons. Each time we move into these extended passages of dialogue where we turn the whole thing over again and again and everyone uses two or three sentences to say the same one thing repeatedly with no sense of haste. Occasionally these are characters who themselves are fleeing and they're packing a bag, but they are stopping and taking the Time to consider the philosophical implications of the whole thing. And I'm like, if I am Will Kane at this point and I know that the man is on the train coming to try and kill me, I'm gonna go into the building, I'm going to get a yes or no answer, and then I am going to leave and ask the next person, particularly if I keep getting no's, I am going to just head out, cut my losses. I'm not gonna stay there and listen to the lecture that I get every single time. But the man has no sense of haste whatsoever. Increasingly, he has this real fear of what is coming to get him. And that's interesting, this sort of like King Lear idea of him preparing for his own reckoning and coming to terms with his possible imminent death. That's quite fascinating, but it still doesn't justify the minimal urgency with which he's been conducting himself thus far. Like, the man is on the train, stop moralizing about the situation and just come up with a plan.

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Micky Jo (Theatre Critic and Host) (10:42)

In my introduction, I spoke about the question of why this would be adapted to the stage in the first place. And I think much of the answer, as well as the intrigue of like the real time ticking down thing can be found in one or two of the scenes when he is addressing a crowd and trying to rally support. The first of these takes place in a saloon in which it is put to Will Kane that a lot of people of the town liked Frank Miller, agreed with Frank Miller, that Frank Miller said what everyone was really thinking. And at this point you start to recognize what High Noon, adapted for the stage in 2026 actually is. It is an allegory for the current way of thinking in America and for the recent re election of President Donald Trump. It's a way of talking about everything that is happening there through the lens of this piece of classic cinema, which is fascinating as an idea and doesn't really work. There are too few footholds for really bringing the two into conversation. There's no indication at any other point in the play that this was a man who was offering social ideas. The notion of Frank Miller as any kind of a populist voice feels. Feels shoehorned into this narrative like a pair of ill fitting cowboy boots. And so trying to establish a Trump connection via a handful of out of character endorsements for an individual who is otherwise recalled as a local thug feels like the production aiming instead simply at finding a little topical clout rather than being able to articulate anything meaningful. And there are, I think, other issues with this production, many of them arising from some of the creative choices that have been made. Let's talk a little bit more about.

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Micky Jo (Theatre Critic and Host) (14:13)

Those. So like I said, this production has been designed by Thea Sharrock, set and costume design by Tim Hatley. Wooden walls, sliding elements, big old clock. The lighting design from Neil Austin I thought was actually pretty terrific with a couple of really impactful moments. The music credited to Chris Egan, less so. And this was one of the more puzzling things about this on stage. This was the least predictable part of High Noon and you know, it did offer a little bit of character to what was otherwise this boring, pretty sepia toned story. Scarcely interesting enough to be on stage in the first place. But the inclusion of music here was a huge problem and it started on occasion to feel surprisingly proximal to musical theater. And there are ways in which this could have been circumvented. You had Denis Goff's character, Amy, who would sing on a couple of occasions. A couple of other characters sang as well. There one moment of almost group choreography, Just a couple of really insincere moments of music with pre recorded backing. There were a couple of instruments on stage, but for the most part, pre recorded backing. And had Denise Gough's character been singing a cappella, then the vibe would have been a little bit more like, okay, music in a play. And I love a play with music. I think it can provide a lot in terms of atmosphere and in terms of the right kind of vibe. And when you're doing that, you don't tend to care about the quality of the vocals, Particularly if it's a character within the play singing diegetically. As in, like, she's actually singing like an old country song that she knows because she likes singing. But the way that it was lit, the way that it was too supported by too much pre recorded instrumentation, it started to feel like musical theater and it started to feel like bad musical theater. There was one moment where we had two female characters, one of them blonde in a white dress, the other one with darker hair in a red dress, who as they stepped forwards into these dual cones of overhead lighting, looked very much like they were about to sing. I know him so well from Chess, especially because of the scene that they had just played prior to that while dressed to sing in his eyes from Jekyll and Hyde, both of which I would have preferred to what was actually happening on stage. The sound design was from Nick Lidster from autographed Sound for the most part. Fine. There were a couple of moments that really mattered. Unfortunately, there were some gunshot sound effects towards the end that were pre recorded rather than being live. If anyone is wary of gunshots, then they start to arise at the point of the play that you would expect them to. But there was at least one where it was cut off conspicuously soon and the full sort of echo and reverberation of that sound end abruptly, which kind of just sucks you out of the reality and intensity of a shootout to consider the bigger picture. I think we had some issues with tone for the most part. The whole thing was sort of unrelentingly bland and monotonous as everyone very steadily weighed decisions about what they were going to do with this man on a train heading towards them. And we had scene after scene of like, oh, this is happening. I better really slowly and painstakingly come to a decision about it. What do you mean you disagree with me? Let's discuss this further. Let's really get into this. And at the end of this conversation, neither of us has been whatsoever convinced by the other. No ground has been gained. And I'm just gonna give up and then go and have a very similar conversation with the next person that I encounter who may or may not be played by the same actor that I've just spoken to, wearing a slightly different hat, but a hat that looks similar enough and is the same color as every other costume piece on stage. That from further back in the stalls, it's actually difficult to infer what's going on. We'll get to that later. That's a problem in and of itself. But tonally, because we lacked in the requisite tension of the whole thing until people were literally shooting at each other, which is always going to be, you know, one way to achieve theatrical anxiety. The only variation in tone we found was moments when it became unfortunately laughable. And at least the audience that I was in began to chuckle at a couple of sections that they ought not to have been, including what probably should have been the climax of the entire narrative prior to noon, less than half an hour before noon, in fact, when the ex marshal and his deputy, who have this complex, strained relationship, he's looked up to him, but there's also resentment there. And he is proud of him, but he can't. Articulated all sorts of, like, toxic masculinity back in the day stuff going on here. Let's call it emotional unavailability. But with Stetson's. And they have this physical fight. The deputy is trying to plead with him that he should flee. He has a few moments left in which to do this. He should try and get as far away as possible and save himself and not make this reckless, foolish decision. And they're rolling around on the floor tussling with each other and biting each other and headbutting each other. And unfortunately, the whole thing plays a little bit laughably, especially because of dialogue that the deputy character has when he talks about one occasion when he saw the then marshal showering through a crack in the door and describes it in explicit detail, which makes you think the scene's about to go in a completely different direction. But like I said, Stetson's emotional unavailability. We're gonna punch each other instead. That's where we're going with it.

Momentous Ad Voice / Podcast Host (19:03)

This.

Micky Jo (Theatre Critic and Host) (19:03)

And, you know, I can understand the pressure of the situation giving way to a physical confrontation. What I can't understand is the length of time during which Will Kane stands there and listens to this description of his own naked showering body when, once again, the train is on the way about 20 minutes from the station. Speaking of which, when the train finally does arrive, when the hands on the clock face have moved around to 12 o' clock and this hugely anticipated part of the story arrives, we do achieve what I think is probably one of the most impactful moments, moments within the production, which is the parting of this rear wall, the flooding of the stage in smoke, and the steady but intense motion of, like a train headlight down the center of the stage towards the audience, progressing very ominously and eventually giving way to the silhouette of a figure who we can recognize from all of his prior announcements. This is Frank Miller, and I'll speak more in the next section about the impact of multi rolling in the narrative, that is to say, say, members of the company playing more than one character each. But even though it would be sort of contrary to the logistics of this production, I do think that because the arrival of Frank has been so anticipated, he ought to be played by an actor we haven't seen already and not one who we have already met as multiple different characters. So this very epic entrance that he has is somewhat diminished when he turns around and we recognize his face and we're like, oh, that's that guy from that scene. And also that guy from the scene before also. Not for nothing, the two options for Will Kane outlined repeatedly in this story are stay and fight at gunpoint or flee the town entirely. Not enough time is given to the possibility of, you know, just like, narrowly evading him. And facetious though it may be, it does seem to me that the sheer quantity of smoke that floods the stage at this moment would have obscured the fleeing ex marshal were he to try and board the very same train that Frank Miller had just got off of. Admittedly, though, these are not circumstances I have ever found myself. Finally, then, many a boring piece of theatre has been salvaged by stellar performances from talented actors. Let's talk about why this one.

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Micky Jo (Theatre Critic and Host) (21:36)

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Micky Jo (Theatre Critic and Host) (22:02)

Start reaching your ideal audience through podcast ads with Acast. Visit go acast.com advertise to get started. No, wasn't. So I have seen both Billy Crudup and Denise Gough on stage previously giving extraordinary performances. Performances like utterly remarkable Billy Crudup I thought was fantastic in Harry Clarke, which was this tour de force display of versatility. Crucially, he was the only person on stage portraying all of these different characters, and the one thing he doesn't really get to show in High Noon is anything resembling range. He delivers this one aspect, this one note of characterization very, very well, but it's all he really ever gets the chance to amount to. Frustration grows slightly, and you can see the glimmers of prior resentments and prior romances flashing across his eyes. But for the most part he is just singularly focused and unwilling to listen to any kind of outside perspective, including that of his own wife, played by Denise Gough, who gave this earth shattering visceral performance in people, places and things at the heart of a tornado. And in this she has this sort of slightly pointless reduced role that amounts to something very significant by the end, but can't possibly measure up to the extent to which she's been sidelined, really. And she comes back on stage often enough and she has enough to say, but she doesn't get any sense of development. So when she and I'm trying to tread lightly around spoilers here, when she eventually arrives at a very out of character decision, the one that she has been opposed to for the entirety of the play, there isn't much justification as to why we're meant to simply understand, or I guess it's meant to be, some kind of a surprise, which it isn't really. And almost everything they do in this play aligns with the way their characters have been introduced to us. At the beginning as they are having this wedding ceremony, we find out that she has a real strength in her own convictions, that she is willful and opinionated, and that he is entirely reluctant to retire. Both of these will come to be very important facts about them. Only it does feel like at best a waste of Denise Gough here to have her so backed into a corner with this nothing of a character. And at worst, a miscasting even, because she arguably doesn't have particularly great chemistry with Billy Crudup. And perhaps an older actress, one who reads closer to his age on stage. Whether or not that was historically accurate or reflected in the film, I don't care. Might be able to better land the notion of these two souls who have both, you know, had a life, who have both experienced moving through the world before coming together amidst these soon deadly circumstances. But as it stands, she doesn't feel quite world weary enough when she's talking about all of the events of her lifetime and committing to this strong anti firearm stance. And additionally, she has another accidentally comical line when she's singing a needless musical theater transition moment moment and reveals that singing is actually also forbidden by her Quaker religion and identity. And listen, I've always loved their porridge, but that's not something I'm willing to stand for. Only she can't seem to keep herself from doing that. At which point her reluctance to pick up a gun and help defend her husband against imminent death starts to look a little bit more like her disinterest in his still being alive at all. It's like singing as the one sin she's gonna let herself do. And I wish she'd stop doing that now for multiple reasons. Now, I mentioned multi rolling and this is a company totaling just over a dozen actors and it created, I think for me at least, a big problem. Because when you're telling the story of a small community and of all of these different voices and I'm fighting to attain any kind of familiarity with each of them. And we're circling back to characters that we met previously and I'm like, oh, I know this guy. But is he playing the guy who played two scenes ago or is he playing the guy he played four scenes ago? He's clearly had more to drink by this point. But is he that guy a little bit more drunk or is he that guy a lot more drunk? Like, where are we? Who is this? What's going on? So many of the supporting actors in this cast play two or three different characters and wildly it's easier to recognize, recognize Jack Holden in Kenrecks, who is doing a one man show playing a bunch of different roles, looking exactly the same as each of them, but characterizing them in a specific enough way that you can tell who every individual is from his physicality. From the vocal affectation in High Noon, unfortunately you have a chorus of supporting characters who all start to look and sound the same. Not for nothing but Kenrex, which is a fantastic piece of theater, also finds more tension when Jack is holding himself at gunpoint than we encounter in any moment of High Noon. Now, I told you about the scene in the bar with all of this popular rhetoric of Frank Miller as someone who speaks his mind and says what a lot of people are really thinking. There are further echoes of that when Billy heads into the church and beseeches volunteers within the congregation to join him in his defense of the town against the return of this outlaw. And this, I figured, was meant to be the other scene that really landed the justification for doing this play on stage right now with this skewering of the idea of individual moral and social responsibility as different characters stood up from the church pews in order to explain why they didn't need to do this and why they should just let him come back and they didn't need to defend the town and they didn't need to join him. That it was the law's responsibility or that the fault lay with those who had failed him, the criminal justice system that had failed in the North. And theoretically a scene like that really would have driven home the ideas that we were trying to explore here. The problem was that it was written and directed and to a certain extent portrayed as well in a minimally effective way that saw this sort of turn based series of declarations arising with a lot of actors who aren't going to speak for the remainder of the runtime and many of them who hadn't spoken thus far, standing up to deliver these suddenly passionate moments with three or four random townspeople, each waiting for the other to finish speaking before saying, no, you're all going to listen to me. No, actually you're all going to listen to me. And if there was any kind of a powerful or realistic way to do this, we didn't find it. It was also, I will say, a mixed bag when it came to accents. I will spare performers the indignity of being singled out on that front, but somebody I will specifically men is Rosa Salazar as Helen Ramirez, who for me was the shining light of the entire production. I enjoyed her material an awful lot more. For the one thing it finally afforded us, subplot. We found out about her experiences and history as a Mexican within the community. She had romantic history with multiple different characters. She was enterprising and self sufficient and realistic about the challenges of the world. The challenges of the world at a time for a woman, for a woman of color, and there was infinitely more to gain from any moment when she was on stage. The assertion, the directness, the wit even of her characterization made everything, for a few glimmering moments at a time, engaging. Otherwise, however, and though I'm ashamed to say it, I sort of couldn't wait for them to start shooting at each other. Those have been my thoughts then. When it comes to High Noon at the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End, I dare say that my opinion about this play is slightly more negative than many others. Like I said, I would love to hear what others thought in the comments section down below. If you have had the chance to see this this already, there are, I think, lots of people who would enjoy this play. It's slower, it's steadier. If you are a fan of the source material, if you are a fan of this particular cinematic sub genre in general, if you like a Western, I'm still very intrigued about the viability of those kinds of stories on stage. I dare say there are better ways to do them that really lean into a lot of their own tropes, more so than just trying to reframe the whole thing as a very static Greek tragedy. In any case, if you have any curiosity about it, or if you would like to make up your own mind, as I always encourage you too, you can check out High Noon at the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End. In the meantime, thank you so much for listening to my review. I hope that you enjoyed. If you did, make sure to subscribe to my theatre themed YouTube channel or follow me on podcast platforms. And as always, I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day for ten more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a Stagey Day. Subscribe.

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