Director Steven Berkoff said in the programme it would be a hard test for a director not to "fall helplessly in the giant shadow of the film". Unfortunately, he did not quite pass.

There was clever contrast chosen to replace the sets of Hollywood with a simple minimalist version of the docks of New York. A darkened cityscape backdrop and a well-chosen 1950s soundtrack set the atmosphere.

The props were minimal with mime and sound-scapes by the cast added to extend the minimalist theme. The latter however was the least effective.

An emotional and well-acted scene, with main character Tony Malloy - Simon Merrells - and his brother Charley - Robin Kingsland, was ruined by poor car sounds created by actors in the wings.

The stage was set well- we knew they were in a car- so why were poor car imitations added?

Although there were successful intended moments of comedy -the cast pretending to be Terry's pigeons was a hilarious highlight - the unintentional, such as the car noises, severely detracted from the play's key themes of violence and intimidation that were so central to understanding the production.

Slicker stylised ideas were used though. Slow motion movement of the mobsters, compared to speedy scattering of the dockers, illustrated the strength and domination of one group and the fear consuming the other.

Sadly some of the actors needed to make the moves less exaggerated, so again this lead to a few misplaced laughs and a drop in tension.

There were some astounding performances individually. Vincenzo Nicoli as Father Barry was moving and powerful, really drawing the audience into the plight the dockers faced.

On the other side, Sam Douglas as Johnny Friendly portrayed a classic and convincing interpretation of the head gangster with a domineering physical presence coupled with chilling, hard-hitting speeches.

The only female character in the play, Edie Doyle - played by Coral Beed - exuded the passion of the part but disappointingly failed to bring her performance down to handle the more sensitive elements of her role when required.

On the Waterfront is an enticing story directed here with passion and originality.

There were some mistakes within the staging but equally some fantastic individual performances that I believe make this first UK production of the play worth seeing.

On the Waterfront is now playing at Nottingham Playhouse until May 3.