{"id":1298,"date":"2012-10-24T01:50:02","date_gmt":"2012-10-24T00:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jameskwalker.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1298"},"modified":"2022-10-07T11:49:04","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T10:49:04","slug":"loneliness-of-the-long-distance-runner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jameskwalker.co.uk\/blog\/2012\/10\/24\/loneliness-of-the-long-distance-runner\/","title":{"rendered":"50th anniversary of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Theatrical release poster at Wikipedia.<\/p><\/div>\n

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of Karel Reisz\u2019s film adaptation of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner<\/em>. I\u2019d originally planned to celebrate this by running the Great North Run with Tony Roe and then stopping at the finishing line and reading the story out aloud. A bit dramatic, but that\u2019s the kind of thing you have to resort to when you\u2019re trying to raise the profile of a voluntary organisation such as the Alan Sillitoe Committee<\/a>. However, these plans were scuppered when I got the commission for The Space<\/a> which has dominated the last six months of my life. It had nothing to do with laziness. ..<\/p>\n

Loneliness was the title of Sillitoe\u2019s second publication, a collection of short stories that also contains two other classics in Uncle Ernest<\/em> and On Saturday Afternoon<\/em>. I first read Loneliness in my late teens, which was probably the best time as I, like Colin Smith, was trying to figure out my place in the world. I still am. Through Colin Smith I learned that respect was something that was earned rather than a given and that it was alright to question authority, morals that have stayed with me throughout my life.<\/p>\n

It was with great excitement, then, and a little trepidation, that I made my way to the Playhouse to see Roy Williams adaptation. Tom Courtney is as synonymous with Colin Smith as Albert Finney is with Arthur Seaton and so this was no easy task. One way to resolve this problem was by casting a mixed-race kid (superbly played by Marcus Romer) against the backdrop of the 2011 riots, which has raised similar questions regarding class and youth. This was a clever move and worked well.<\/p>\n