OLIVER TWIST To 23 January.

Bolton.

OLIVER TWIST
by Charles Dickens new version by Deborah McAndrew.

Octagon Theatre To 23 January 2010.
Runs 2hr 5min One interval.

TICKETS: 01204 520661.
www.octagonbolton.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 19 December.

Vigorous and spirited: a Dickens of a show.
A show that skates along so speedily it must be good, if only because it never slows down enough to come off the rails, this does for Dickens’ London what Baz Luhrmann’s pop-paced film Moulin Rouge! did for Toulouse-Lautrec’s Paris.

It’s a speedboat ride through the story, a hurtling account that’s forever moving characters, place and events, pushed on by carol fragments that tie things in with the season so convincingly it’s hard to notice that Christmas and Oliver have no reason to be bracketed together.

Adapter Deborah McAndrew and director Josette Bushell-Mingo (as lively-minded a performer herself as anyone’s likely to see) seem to have been of a mind in this. Certainly, Bushwell-Mingo’s inventiveness finds itself at home with McAndrew’s rapid-fire script.

This quick pacing’s to the good; it cuts out any tendency to pomposity in acting Dickens, or stale Victorian mannerisms, and makes the story clear – including, as events veer giddily along, the early events of Oliver’s life which led him to the workhouse where he – graphically seen drawing the short straw and being egged on - asks for more food.

It also provides momentum for the second half; apart from Nancy’s fate, most of the highlights occur in Dickens’ earlier chapters where there’s the fun of introducing his graphic characters rather than the risky sentiment of the story’s development.

And, most crucially it gives a sense of the whirl of existence as it must have appeared to a boy in Oliver’s position, who part-possesses and part has uncertain glimpses of, his past, in a present that swiftly and unpredictably changes between the Rose-tinted hues of safety and the dark days of enforced criminalisation. All on a fine, expansive Dawn Allsopp set, catching the turmoil and surprises surrounding Dickens’ young protagonist.

The approach is neatly pictured in the programme’s cover image; the face of a boy, puzzled, inquiring, sad against a bleak urban background recalling the Stephen Daldry/Ian MacNeil Inspector Calls: more children, sad or hopeful, a dark figure staking way behind underneath a gallows. Mixing theatrical verve and humanity, this is a fine Christmas gift of a production.

Widow Corney/Mrs Bedwin: Fiona Bruce.
Old Sally/Mrs Sowerberry: Laura Cox.
Nancy/Charlotte: Esther Ruth Elliott.
Bill Sykes/Mr Bumble: Tim Frances.
Fagin/Justice Fang/Mr Grimwig: Robert Pickavance.
Mr Sowerberry/Mr Bwonlow: Andrew Price.
Rose/Bet/Agnes: Samantha Sutherland.

Director: Josette Bushell-Mingo.
Designer: Dawn Allsopp.
Lighting: Richard G Jones.
Sound: Andy Smith.
Composer: Conrad Nelson.
Musical director: Rebekah Hughes.
Movement: Lesley Hutchison.
Assistant director: Elizabeth Newman.

2010-01-04 00:43:44