A Bold New Twist For Oliver

With something as well known as Dickens’ Oliver there’s bound to be an amount of expectation, however, an equal truth is that Leeds Playhouse can always be called upon to surprise those expecting the obvious!

And so it is with this bold new production of the Dickensian classic, read by millions and immortalised in an Oscar winning film that left us all thinking that Ron Moody as Fagin was the real deal.

But the first of last night’s twists – forgive the pun – was Caroline Parker as the infamous child gang leader. I didn’t expect to enjoy her performance because I was most probably captive to my own prejudices, but I did. In fact I’d say she was brilliant and made me laugh with strains of Les Miserables’ Madame Thénardier permeating her interpretation.

This was a dark, sinister show with few uplifting moments, leaving you with the sense that Victorian England was no place for the faint hearted.

A new commission from the pen of playwright Bryony Lavery, this re-telling of the 1830’s classic, was an opportunity for a clean slate, enabling both the Playhouse and Ramps on the Moon – a theatrical consortium committed to putting D/deaf and disabled artists at the centre of theatre creation – to view everything with fresh eyes.

And they did just that.

Impenetrable Dickensian language went out of the door and in came sign language and captioning, making the dominant on stage language, at times, British Sign Language (BSL)…..and it really got you thinking.

Oliver was mute throughout throwing into the spotlight that there were people in the 1800’s who would have lived through a double Hell: poverty and an overwhelming inability to communicate, so much so that Society most probably dismissed them as morons.

Add to this Hayley Grindle’s cold, steel set – a multi-functional workhouse, gateway, cellar, court, den and rooftop - and you have a production that will get you thinking. Entertain? Maybe it is too dark, brutal and claustrophobic to be ‘entertaining’ but thought-provoking it certainly is.

Stephen Collins as Bill Sikes, the brutal thief who eventually kills his partner, Nancy (Clare-Louise English), was suitably menacing and, again, director, Amy Leach, chose to selectively use puppets for Sikes’ canine friend, Fang, and when Oliver was first born; an inspired choice.

Benjamin Wilson as the Beadle, Mr Bumble, along with his wife to be Mrs Thingummy (Steph Lacey) were funny and beautifully grasping, and I loved Mrs Thingummy’s adapted wheelchair with its smoking chimney!

And if Oliver was mute then the comic value of Nadeem Islam’s Artful Dodger made enough theatrical noise for both, albeit signing and sound; excellent!

This is a multi-layered production and, if you see it five times, you will see something different every time.

It may re-tell a story that so many of us already know, but it also informs us about integration, the need to be more inclusive as a society, the need to look after the have nots and the overwhelming need not to fall prey to one’s pride for therein lies despair.

Dickens won’t be turning in his grave but he might be struggling to get out to see if he’s missed something worth watching!

Oliver
Leeds Playhouse
Until 21st March