High Noon is rightly regarded as a high watermark for the Western film, a real time, allegorical drama (spoiler: it’s about Hollywood blacklisting) in which Will Kane, the sheriff of a small New Mexico town, is preparing for retirement with his new bride Amy, when word reaches them that a dangerous outlaw who Will sent down is out of jail and on the lookout for revenge. Will tries to rouse the townspeople to his side – but they’re too timid and self-intersted to do so.
A stage version sounds both plausible – it’s a dialogue heavy, relatively cerebral work – but also kind of nuts: it ends with one of the most iconic gunfight scenes in cinema history, which would seem to be something very difficult to replicate convincingly on stage.
Whatever the case, a superb team is going to give it their very best: cult US actor Billy Crudup will play Will, and the magnificent Denise Gough will follow in Grace Kelly’s footsteps and play Amy, with the excellent Thea Sharrock directing, and a screenplay from Academy Award winner Eric Roth, whose absurd list of credits runs from Forest Gump to Dune. It’s an improbable project, but if anyone can make it work it’s this team.
