The clock strikes noon, but the tension never quite does

High Noon | Harold Pinter Theatre until 6th March

Cowboys, a ticking clock and Bruce Springsteen. Moments sparkle, but High Noon squanders some of its talent.

This is, as my programme proudly proclaims, the world premiere of the High Noon stage adaptation, which is a rarity: the cowboy play. There must be others. There was a play called Green Grow the Lilacs, which was then turned into the musical Oklahoma! And while there have been many cowboy musicals, there are not very many cowboy plays. Although, I fear I may have stumbled upon a new genre here, which is the jukebox play.

What we have is a stage adaptation of the Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly film. A sheriff who hands in his badge and plans to retire into married life on his wedding day discovers that a man he once convicted has been released from jail and is returning to kill him. Does he run away, or does he stay and fight? He tries to raise a posse among the townsfolk, but nobody will stand by him. Even his new bride wants to leave town.

It is a familiar set-up, one we have seen elsewhere. The last job. The badge handed in. The wedding. The plan to leave. And then this happens. His bride is a Quaker, who has adopted this faith to take a stand against violence. You will not be surprised by the final twist, which I will not reveal, but it was fairly obvious that it was coming.

The play broadly follows the film’s plot, although it slightly alters the ending to make it more palatable for a contemporary audience and gives Denise Gough’s character a little more agency.

When the film was released in the early 1950s, it was widely seen as an allegory of McCarthyism, and some people, including John Wayne, hated it for that reason. Ronald Reagan, by contrast, loved it. Apparently it was one of his favourite films, because it was about justice and standing up for what is right.

There are contemporary parallels here, with corrupt systems contrasted against doing the right thing and choosing what one is prepared to stand and fight for. However, this is rather unsubtly signposted with lines such as, “Something is rotten here, this whole damn country.”

The play runs for just under two hours without an interval and ostensibly unfolds in real time. The set, a stylised arrangement of wooden slats by Tim Hatley, is beautifully lit by Neil Austin. It is dominated by a large clock above the stage that ticks down to noon, although I did observe, and this was echoed by the friend I was with, that we seemed to spend a very long time at 11.30 before everything suddenly sped up.

Then there is the jukebox element. Various characters break into Bruce Springsteen songs, and some Ry Cooder numbers, for no discernible reason I could identify, other than an attempt to lend contemporary relevance. We also get moments of line dancing and contemporary dance, again without clear justification. For me, the production falls between two stools. If you are going to lean into stylised song and movement, you need to commit to it fully. It simply does not sit comfortably here. I have also never seen a cast look quite so visibly uncomfortable during a curtain call line dance, which feels oddly at odds with what precedes it.

This marks the stage debut of the Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth, known for Forrest Gump, Dune and many other films. It is admirable that he is making his playwriting debut in his seventies. However, despite his formidable screen credentials, he does not serve his cast particularly well. The play lacks tension and depth until the final minutes and relies on some clunky exposition.

As for the performances, these are big cowboy boots to fill. Billy Crudup, a superb actor familiar from The Morning Show, plays Will Kane in the Gary Cooper role, the strong, silent type. At the wedding, someone observes, “Those are the most words you’ve said in the last 15 years.” Yet for the next two hours he barely stops talking. Portraying silence on stage is difficult without the aid of close-ups. There is also a long, awkward fight between Kane and his deputy Harvey Pell, played by Billy Howle, which goes on far longer than necessary.

Denise Gough takes on the Grace Kelly role of Amy Fowler, but the character is underwritten, and her late change of heart does not ring true. She is given little to do, though she gamely sings several Bruce Springsteen songs a cappella. She is not, however, a natural singer.

The strongest performance comes from Rosa Salazar, also making her stage debut, as the Mexican Helen Ramirez. She is the most fully realised character in the piece and delivers the most affecting performance of the evening.

In the end, it is hard to see the point of it all. The production feels like a squandering of talent. Crudup, Gough and Salazar are all exceptional actors, but they are not given a script equal to their abilities, and it remains unclear why this particular film needed to be brought to the stage.

High Noon is a curious ride. Billy Crudup and Denise Gough give committed performances, but awkward pacing and a clunky script hold the production back. Rosa Salazar shines in her stage debut. Fans of the film, or of cowboy theatrics, may still find plenty to enjoy.

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