BWW REVIEWS: THE HOOK, Royal and Derngate, June 11 2015

Royal and Derngate's Made in Northampton season continues with the world premiere of Arthur Miller's THE HOOK - which was written as a screenplay in the early 1950s, but remained unfilmed after the intervention of the FBI who feared it would cause unrest.

THE HOOK looks at longshoremen in 1950s New York - and in particular at Marty Ferrara who takes a stand against the mob who are running the dockworkers' Union. Marty is an idealist who dreams of a better world - where people working on the docks get a fair deal, with a union fighting their corner - but he's surrounded by people who would have less of a problem with the racketeers if only they could get in on it. That's not to say he's whiter than white because these all are men operating in grey areas - at one point Marty spends a time as an illegal bookie to try to get away from the ships. James Sives gives him bravado and swagger, even when gangsters are threatening his life. It always feels like a cop out to say that a cast is uniformly good - but it really is hard to single out one of this ensemble as being better than the others, and there were certainly no weak links.

The single set is on two levels and uses lighting and projection in the main to indicate different locations. It's dark and forbidding and when the men are unloading the ships it's almost hypnotic to watch - even if some of them need to work a bit harder at making their loads look heavy! The sound design is subtle but effective at creating the cramped and claustrophobic dockside area.

All together this is a really well put together production and I thought THE HOOK was very impressive - right up until the end with its glimmer of hope, which strangely felt like a bit of a damp squib. It's Miller's centenary this year, and whilst this is not a perfect play it's definitely worth a visit - Northampton is an easy trip from London and clocking in at under two hours (including interval) you might even be back at Euston before midnight. You have until June 27th - then the production moves to Liverpool Playhouse (who co-produced it) from July 1st - 25th.

Photo Credit: Manuel Harlan