A scene from Camelot Theatre's production of "Fahrenheit 451."
Ray Bradbury's stage adaptation of his classic novel "Fahrenheit 451," the dystopian story of a future in which an oppressive government burns books, opens Friday at Camelot Theater in Talent, directed by Charles Cherry.
In Bradbury's tale, the government has outlawed the possession of books and relies on informants to turn in readers. Most people are drugged into complacency and/or get information from wall-length television screens.
A man named Montag works as a "fireman," a civil servant whose job is the burning of books. But several events lead him to begin to question his life. When he meets 16-year-old Clarisse, who encourages him to think about what he is doing, he starts reading confiscated books.
The 1953 book quickly became an anti-censorship classic. It was made into a 1966 film directed by François Truffautt starring Oskar Werner, Cyril Cusack and Julie Christie. In 1979, Bradbury adapted his own work for the stage.
The significance of the name is that it's the temperature at which paper ignites.
Advertisement | |
"To a degree this is true, but Bradbury, in both the book and (the play), does not point the finger of blame just at the fascist government of the story. He gestures even more strongly toward the people being governed."
The production stars Jamison Challeen as Guy Montag, Paul Jones as Capt. Beattie, Marian Horton as Mildred Montag and Mandy Andersen as Clarisse, and features Grant Shepard as Professor Faber.
Challeen studied acting and directing at Western Montana College and has done voice-over work, film and commercials. He's been in several plays at Ashland's Oregon Stage Works, from last December's "Ebenezer Who?" to the recent "Wild Guys."
A retired theater arts professor, Jones has more 100 acting roles to his credit. At Camelot he played Ben Franklin in "1776," among other roles. He also directed the Camelot production of "The Heidi Chronicles."
Marian Horton has performed with area theater groups including Rogue Music Theater, Connect the Dots and Rogue Opera as well as appearing in the Camelot production of "A Little Night Music."
Mandy, an Ashland High School senior, has acted in several Camelot roles, including Maja in "The Music Lesson," Bet in "Oliver," Yonah in "Children of Eden" and Fredrika in "A Little Night Music."
Shepard is a former professor of theater at the University of Miami who has been active in community theaters in California and, for the last 15 years, in the Rogue Valley. He directed "Born Yesterday" and appeared as Emil Hahn in "Judgment at Nuremberg" at Camelot and as Arthur in "Arthur's Dreams" at Oregon Stage Works.
The production team includes costumer Emily Ehrlich Inget, set designer Don Zastoupil, lighting designer Bart Grady and sound designer Brian O'Connor.
Cherry says that although we don't today for the most part ban books, Bradbury's dark vision is still relevant, not just for authoritarian governments but for everyday Americans.
"We don't burn books," he says, "we ignore them — it's easier. We spend more on video games than on books, and our wall-size media centers feed us mindless reality TV, just as Bradbury said they would."
Camelot's Artistic Director Livia Genise notes that the production is opening just a week after the end of National Banned Books Week. Nationally, such titles as the Harry Potter series have been challenged in schools and libraries, along with works by John Steinbeck, Toni Morrison and Mark Twain.
In another twist, National Fire Prevention Week begins Monday.
There will be an Access barrel in the Camelot lobby for audience members to make donations of food to that group, which feeds the hungry.
"Fahrenheit 451" runs at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays through Nov. 5. Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m. A special pay-what-you-can performance is scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11.
Tickets are $15 for students and seniors and $17 for adults. Reserved seats are an extra $2 per ticket.
Call 535-5250.
