THEATRE REVIEW: Oliver Twist - The Storyhouse, Chester.

Nancy lives! And bad Bill Sikes is tied up in fairy lights, and led away by the policemen. Charles Dickens’s “Oliver Twist” has been reinvented by adaptor Alex Clifton into a gentle, heartwarming fairy tale for Christmas, with not an overly dark or shadowy moment in it anywhere. This production was seen at the Chester Storyhouse, with a school-aged Assistant Reviewer.

Elizabeth Wright’s picturesque set focused mainly on an abandoned wooden warehouse where the pickpocket gang live as squatters. At the back were Victorian shops with Christmas wreaths on the doors, and around the stage were strings of fairy lights. The actors, in their crinolines, bonnets, waistcoats and top hats, were in soft bright colours that had the luminosity of a vintage Quality Street tin.

And the stage was filled with children. Four teams from the Storyhouse Youth Theatre are sharing out the performances each night; and I’m not sure if I was watching Team Oliver, Team Dodger, Team Twist or Team Bullseye, but the energy and focus of the child performers was commendable, and the young boy (one of four actors in the role) playing Oliver was angelic.

The rest of the ensemble had all the fun of playing Dickensian characters with a modern twist. Cynthia Emeagi shone as a Lucifer-like Fagin, disappearing down into smoky trapdoors with a twitch of her dark red skirt. Jessica Jolleys was her sweeter and more maternal counterpart as Nancy. Keshini Misha was a sharp-eyed and sharp-moving Artful Dodger. Rosey Dight was the ever-alert assistant pickpocket Plug. Between them, they kept their swarm of urchins in order without getting upstaged – not easy with a castful of cute children.

Liz Jaday got to flex her Dickensian muscles as the weak-willed undertaker Mr Sowerberry and the pompous Doctor. Milton Lopes worked both an enormous crinoline and a sharp wit as Mrs Sowerberry. Claire-Marie Seddon was warm and sincere as Rose Brownlow, and Adam Speers was gentle and caring as Mr Brownlow.

Matthew Ganley, when he wasn’t putting the callous touches to Bill Sikes and Mr Bumble, did a very strong job of being the musical director. As happens a lot with Chester Storyhouse productions, the adult cast were mostly actor-musicians; and they frequently broke out into twentieth century pub rock classics in a way that did enhance the action. Who says you can’t have a bit of 2 Tone music in a Dickens adaptation?

Director Kash Arshad has created a lovely family production for Christmas. It leans a little more towards pantomime than Dickens’ original gritty social realism; but for the audience of watching children, it was an entrancing production.

Reviewer - Thalia Terpsichore
on - 9.12.21