V On Stage

In the stage adaptation of Alan Moore's V For Vendetta by Sean Mason, the nuclear war has become a biological war. That makes sense because, as Moore acknowledged in his Introduction to the DC Comics edition, society or even humanity is unlikely to survive a nuclear exchange.

But the year remains 1997 so the story has become a (still relevant) alternative history as opposed to a near future scenario. V's 1997 has become an important "past future," like Winston Smith's 1984. Smith is brainwashed but V resists. Fictional characters cover the entire gamut of possible human experiences.

In V, the hero has a hero and Valerie's letter is extremely moving whether read by us in the comic or read aloud on stage by Evey with Valerie walking on to stand beside Evey and speak over her. The film is bad but the play is not. What we also need, however, is a stage performance of the Vicious Cabaret.