“Fahrenheit 451” is a 1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury that presents a future American society in which books have been outlawed and firemen burn any that are found. (451 degrees Fahrenheit is the ignition temperature of paper.) While written during the second Red Scare and the McCarthy era, just 20 years after the book-burnings in Nazi Germany, the story is if anything even more resonant today.
There have been several adaptations of the novel, one being François Truffaut’s 1966 film, another the author’s own adaptation of his book into a play in the late ’70s. It is Bradbury’s adaptation that is the basis of the Bay Street Theater’s Literature Live! production of “Fahrenheit 451,” which will open Saturday and run through Nov. 30, with previews Thursday and Friday evenings.
The story follows Guy Montag, a loyal fireman who, inspired in part by his young neighbor Clarisse McClellan, begins to question his role in a society built on censorship, distraction, and fear.
The decision to mount the play was taken by Scott Schwartz, Bay Street’s artistic director, and Allen O’Reilly, its former director of education. It is being directed by Stephen Hamilton, who said that he “lobbied to direct this one, I kept pushing,” during a conversation at the theater, where he was joined by J. Stephen Brantley, who plays Captain Beatty, Montag’s commanding officer.
Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit” runs well over two hours, and Mr. Hamilton had to cut it to roughly 90 minutes because of school groups and their schedules. “It approached an adaptation, but we’ll call it a cutting,” he said. “However, we kept very true to the narrative.”
As for the play’s relevance today, Mr. Brantley commented that “We’re in an era where there’s a lot of policing around content, particularly around books for young people. We’re seeing titles being pulled out of school libraries and libraries losing funding, and I think this story is a good reminder of what the stakes are and what we stand to lose as communities when we lose access to stories.”
“For the loneliness we are experiencing now as a society, we like to point the finger at social media,” said Mr. Hamilton, “but there are a lot of different sources that play into that, that isolate us and keep us from joining together in community. It’s that sort of isolation that Bradbury was probably the most prescient about.”
Both men elaborated on the fracturing of community today; in large part, said Mr. Brantley, because we have 24-hour entertainment where we live and there’s no need to leave home. “It’s the kind of entertainment that does not require any reflection whatsoever,” said Mr. Hamilton. “So there’s no thought needed, it doesn’t allow for those moments, even personal reflection, let alone community reflection.”
It’s one thing to describe book-burnings in a novel and another to depict them on film. (There’s a scene in the 2018 HBO film adaptation that shows a woman stepping into the massive conflagration of her own books.) But nobody wants to yell Fire! in a theater.
“The beauty of theater is that because of the limitations, it gives you great freedom as well,” said Mr. Hamilton. “Because those moments clearly have to be stylized in a way, which is often more effective than just seeing the real thing, because it invokes more of the audience’s own involvement and imagination.”
Modern technology was one answer. “The use of technology in this production is extraordinary,” said Mr. Brantley. There are 16 media screens, he said, and every surface onstage is a surface for projection.
“Mike Billings, who is the director of production here, is an extremely talented designer as well,” said Mr. Hamilton. “He’s had a field day with this. He created such an amazing palette for himself to paint, and he designed the set, too.” The slate-gray floor, walls, and columns are all newly constructed.
Both Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Brantley have read the novel. “I was a science fiction freak as a kid and read a lot of Bradbury,” said Mr. Hamilton. “And reread it, and, of course, read the play. I’d seen the Truffaut film years ago because my father-in-law, Tony Walton, was the set designer.”
“Now I want to see it,” said Mr. Brantley, who has not seen either the Truffaut or the HBO film, in which Michael Shannon plays Captain Beatty. “The last thing I need is the specter of Michael Shannon,” he said. “This is challenging enough, and part of the challenge is, the book spans a lot of time and inner thoughts and details that we have to approach in a different way in this medium. Everything takes on a different kind of urgency because we’re dealing with a 90-minute piece of work — live, in person — rather than a 300-page novel.”
The four main characters are Montag, played by John Kroft, whose Bay Street credits include “The Great Gatsby” and “The Crucible”; Mr. Brantley, whose stage credits include “Mope” at Ensemble Studio Theatre and TV’s “Succession,” Mildred Montag, Montag’s wife, played by Daniela Mastropietro, who recently portrayed Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named Desire” at Bay Street, and Anna Francesca Schiavoni as Clarisse. Ms. Schiavoni is a Sag Harbor native who has appeared in previous Literature Live! productions.
The cast also features Bonnie Comley, Matthew Conlon, Nicole Marie Hunt, Dan Pavacic, and Stewart F. Lane, all of whom play multiple roles, among which are Mary Shelley, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Aristotle — not meant to be those giants of literature so much as their works. Mr. Hamilton explained that the names are aliases adopted by the rebels who have left society and are committed to the preservation of literature. Their aliases represent the authors they have been assigned to memorize.
“Legally, you can’t own a book, you can’t read a book, but you can memorize a book, so that’s what the book people do,” he said. “They memorize an entire text to keep it preserved.”
“It conveys a return to an oral tradition,” Mr. Brantley put in. “These people are taking on the character of authors and memorizing their work. Of course that’s exactly what we do here in the theater with Bradbury’s story.”
Speaking of authors, Mr. Hamilton noted that in the 1953 novel, most of the authors Bradbury references are men. “We wanted to update it by adding women, women of color, and contemporaries as well.”
“Bradbury not referring to Mary Shelley, the woman who invented science fiction, seems deeply irresponsible,” said Mr. Brantley. “But we forgive him and mention her!”
Mr. Hamilton, who co-founded Bay Street Theater in 1991 with Emma Walton Hamilton and Sybil Christopher, oversaw more than 50 productions during the 17 years he was its executive director. In New York City, regionally, and on the East End he has directed plays by Neil LaBute, Tennessee Williams, Martin McDonagh, Arthur Miller, Lanford Wilson, Cynthia Ozick, Marsha Norman, and Terrence McNally, to name but a few.
The creative team includes scenic and projection design by Mr. Billings, a nationally recognized scenic designer; costume design by Yuka Silvera, fight direction by Rick Sordelet, production stage management by Chris Daly, and assistant direction by Brian Clemente.
Performances will take place Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7 p.m., except for Nov. 27, and Saturdays at 2 p.m., with an additional matinee on Nov. 30. Tickets are $49.99 to $119.98, except for tonight, which is Pay What You Can in person at the box office on a first-come-first-served basis.
Now in its 17th year, Literature Live! is a BOCES-approved Arts-in-Education program designed specifically for middle school and high school students, with their teachers and administrators. Plays are chosen from standards-based literature and are supported with teacher-developed lesson plans and reference materials. All performances are free for school groups. Schools interested in attending can call 631-725-0818 ext. 107, or email Bethany Dellapolla at [email protected].
