When Anthony Burgess wrote the first draft of Clockwork Orange in 1960, he was so unimpressed with the ephemerality of the piece that he put it in a drawer and got on with something else.

It's a pity he didn't leave it there. Had he done so we would not have to endure the load of old tosh that an albeit talented cast of actors from the Northern Stage Company are trying to brainwash audiences with at the Cliffs.

If you're not familiar with the word tosh don't worry. There will be lots of words unfamiliar to you in this piece.

Burgess, influenced by James Joyce, made up his own words in a language he called nadsat.

The cast are Geordies and the thick accent along with the speed of delivery and lots of Shakespearean "verily he doth" this and thats thrown in, makes it difficult to follow.

The gratuitous sex and violence in the Stanley Kubrick film turned it into one of the most controversial movies ever and led to the director withdrawing it. It's now back on release but attracting small audiences. After all we've had Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs since then.

Central character Alex starts off as a thug but is imprisoned and brainwashed by the state into being good.

The question raised is whether or not it's better to choose being bad or not having the free choice and being made good.

Artistic director Alan Lyddiard would have us believe that we should all take responsibility for the "beautiful energy in young men that can so easily turn ugly." Tosh!

Last one out the theatre, turn the lights off!

A Clockwork Orange is at the Cliffs Pavilion, Station Road, Westcliff until Saturday

Experimental - Alex is subjected to radical treatment

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.