Last updated at 14:31, Thursday, 29 July 2010

THE cult book Apples has been turned into a stage play – and it’s lost none of its bite.

The Richard Milward novel has won him international acclaim but adapting novels for the stage is always a risky business.

However, in the capable hands of John Retallack, this will undoubtedly be a triumph.

Whitehaven’s Rosehill Theatre was the venue for this controversial work based on the sex, violence, drugs and friendship experienced by school kids growing up in Middlesbrough.

The show was sold out on the Friday night and I wouldn’t be too surprised to learn that many of the audience came back for the repeat performance on the Saturday night.

Adam and Eve (Scott Turnbull and Therase Neve) head a six-strong cast as their lives crash head-on with 20th century life on a northern housing estate. This is not a play for the faint-hearted but it is one for those who like their drama raw and in-your-face.

The script just sizzles but it’s the wonderful mix of movement, dance, light and music which makes Apples work. Harriet Plewis is credited as being responsible for ‘Movement’. I’m not sure many theatre groups give that much thought to movement but in Apples it’s all but the star of the show.

The drama comes thick and fast as the audience is taken on a roller-coaster ride of every parent’s worst nightmare. It makes Shameless look like an episode of Emmerdale but remains convincing throughout. I suspect more than one parent left the theatre, determined to find out just what their kids get up to at the weekends.

Despite the violence and the abuse of everything middle-class England holds sacred, this is a play that has much warmth and compassion. The play doesn’t bother with contrived conclusions but leaves the characters as bemused, confused and terrified of life as when the play began.

This is one of the best shows I’ve seen in many years. Hats off to Rosehill for securing its appearance in Whitehaven. It’s at the Edinburgh Fringe and then in Newcastle Northern Stage in September. Book your tickets now and prepare to have your knickers blown off.

Alan Cleaver

First published at 15:41, Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Published by http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk