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On The Waterfront is a West End contender
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent27.01.09
THE 94-year-old writer of 1954 film On The Waterfront will attend the West End premiere of his stage version.
Budd Schulberg, the screenwriter who penned the famous "I coulda been somebody" speech, is so thrilled his work is hitting the London stage he will fly from the US for press night next month.
"I'm extremely pleased," he said. Schulberg saw the production in Edinburgh last year. It is now going to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, and the writer hailed its leading man, Simon Merrells, a worthy successor to Marlon Brando who played washed-up boxer Terry Malloy in the original.
"I thought he did amazingly well, without trying to copy Brando's performance. He made it so different in a way. Nobody has what Brando had - it was a remarkable performance - but in some ways [Merrells] couldn't have been better," Schulberg said.
"The experience of seeing it live is more vibrant than seeing it on film. It's a more immediate connection between the audience and the production."
The production is a personal project for Steven Berkoff, 71. He both directs and plays the part of corrupt docks union leader Johnny Friendly.
Berkoff, now famous for films including A Clockwork Orange and Octopussy, was a "semi-employed itinerant worker doing odd jobs" in the East End when the film came out and had a dramatic impact on him.
Berkoff said: "I loved it. At that time, nobody in British films was speaking to the common man. But American movies spoke to us. We all wanted to be somebody but didn't have the opportunities."
Berkoff said he first spotted Schulberg's stage script at the National Theatre some years ago and bought the rights when the National turned them down. He added: "The story is so good. And it's one of the rare movies with a film script which is like a poem.
"The language is quoted as much as Hamlet. 'I coulda been somebody ' All working-class kids feel that.
"We're honouring [the director Elia] Kazan's vision as much as Budd's achievement. Even the pigeons will be there."
The play was staged, unsuccessfully, in New York. But the British production received good reviews in Edinburgh and Nottingham.
Schulberg said the story still matters enormously to him. "It makes people think about their obligations in society. It means a lot to me that it has survived as well."
There was controversy at the time of release. Schulberg and Kazan had both come under fire for giving evidence to the House Un-American Activities Committee which was investigating communism in Hollywood.
But the writer still has no regrets at co-operating. "I felt that I had no choice except to tell them the truth. I felt I was obligated to tell the truth," he said.
On The Waterfront is at the Theatre Royal from tomorrow until 25 April.
