Get Carter arrives on stage

Award-winning production company Smarty Pants Productions and James Weisz will be staging it during the Brighton Festival with a view to taking it to Edinburgh in the summer and then perhaps on a national tour in the autumn.

Brighton-based director/producer James comes to it as a fan: “It’s British and I love British cinema. I am a little bit anti-Hollywood!

“In terms of the film itself, it was really a benchmark in terms of the changing attitude towards film, especially in Britain. It pulls the rug out from underneath the swinging 60s and turns it into a much harder, darker Britain.”

The film starring Michael Caine was based on the best-selling novel by Ted Lewis. When his brother dies in mysterious circumstances, Jack Carter travels back home to investigate. The result is a bloody tale of revenge, redemption and brotherhood.

“I think it is one of Michael Caine’s best performances. It’s his rawness. It takes a lot for an actor not to act. He is extremely natural. There is nothing going on in his face and there is everything going on in his face. It’s all in his eyes.

“Caine did about six months research hanging out with the London gangs and really got the naturalism of the part.”

A full professional ensemble is led by Nick Bartlett (Gangs Of New York, London Boulevard) as Jack; Ross Gurney-Randall (Follow Me, Mussolini) as his boss Fletcher; and Seth Morgan (Winner of Best Actor Award, Brighton Festival Fringe 2007) as the villain of the piece Kinnear.

James returns to the Brighton Festival Fringe after winning the Best Comedy award last year for Crimes Against Humanities Teachers.

Performances are at the Hove Centre, Norton Road, Hove (www.hovecentre.co.uk) on May 10, 11, 12 and 13, 8pm. Tickets on 01273 709709 or www.brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk.