Castle Rock – Project Arts Centre – Review by Stephen McDermott

04 March 2016-05 March 2016 8.15pm

There is no map to Castle Rock. It’s not quite a place, but it’s more than a setting. And the story it tells is always the same.

In Stephen King’s coming-of-age novella The Body, Castle Rock is a Maine town from which four young childhood friends seek to escape.

While the novella’s 1986 adaptation Stand By Me makes reference to Castle Rock, the film’s action takes place in Oregon in 1959, a year earlier than in King’s original narrative.

The latest incarnation of Castle Rock takes the form – aptly – of Castle Rock, a new adaptation of both film and novella from Bristol-based theatre company Massive Owl.

In this version, Massive Owl allow three silent voiceless characters from the two earlier narratives to speak and tell the story. Ray (Danny Prosser) attempts to create his own heroic tale by dare-devilishly jumping out of the way of a Train (Jenny Duffy), but inner conflict strikes when he meets The Deer (Sam Powell).

Soon Castle Rock is revealed for what it truly is, which is a changeling that transcends time and place to reveal itself in various forms. As it comes to life, the narrative’s elements become fractured: it is simultaneously 1959 and 1986; narrators transform into characters; the stage constantly shrinks and grows.

All the while, the familiar themes of coming-of-age, escapism and loss feature throughout the story, as it unfolds in something that seems more like performance art than theatre.

To this end, Massive Owl do fantastically in creating a space in which Castle Rock can come alive. The three performers work tirelessly in creating something more than a simple adaptation, and there’s some wonderfully innovative use of sound and lighting.

The downside of such unconventional staging is that can be easy to get lost in what the narrative is trying to do, rather than where it is going. Indeed, there are moments when more basic elements like storytelling and character feel underwritten for post-dramatic sake.

The piece is also so heavily dependent upon the audience’s prior knowledge of its source material, that it runs the risk of being entirely meaningless to those who aren’t more than slightly familiar with The Body or Stand By Me.

But while it’s not a show for everyone, Castle Rock is remarkable for its approach to adaptation, managing to expose the seams of narrative adjustment while performing a transformative role itself.

The result is a rewarding, if difficult, piece of theatre that challenges the way in which great stories are told and re-told. Despite its rough edges, Castle Rock offers more than a unique take on narrative: it is a unique theatrical experience in which Massive Owl re-draw the roadmap for adaptation.