Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Oliver Twist daringly delivers Dickens’s story in all its darkness and light, dappled, as in the novel, with broad-brush humour.
The contrast between the world of the rich and the world of the poor is conveyed by John Biddle’s music. In an opening scene, men and women lustily belt out God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, the very image of Christmas cheer. Then, on a gantry above them, a line of wan and ragged children appear, and softly sing In the Bleak Midwinter. The merrymakers below are the directors of the workhouse where these orphans are so starved they draw lots to decide who will ask for more food. Vivienne Rowland’s touching Oliver draws the short straw and is given a beating.
Mark Babych’s fast-paced production brings out the strengths of McAndrew’s text. This unsanctimonious entertainment carries a powerful moral message. In the camp of the good: William Relton’s Mr Brownlow, Jessica Jolleys as Oliver’s aunt, Rose, trying to lead Alyce Liburd’s Nancy to escape the life Fagin has forced her into. Sykes leads the pack of the bad. Once one of Fagin’s children, he too has been moulded into a form from which he cannot break free. In Christopher D Hunt’s rigid movements we see the externalisation of Sykes’s emotionally frozen inner state. What these two are, the chirpy little thieves in Fagin’s den will one day become. Zach Robinson, as the Artful Dodger, leaves us in no doubt that he knows what will happen to Nancy if he obeys Fagin’s command to follow her and report back.
The genius of Lisa Howard’s Fagin lies in not letting us fully make up our minds about him until the end. She twists and turns, fawns and feigns; is greedy, fearful, humorous; even, at times, kindly. Finally, crouching in the prison cell, we see the true person – not a monster but one who has made themselves monstrous.
Patrick Connellan’s multilevel wooden set and Siân Thomas’s costumes evoke changing atmospheres. Character acting is terrific: Alison Fitzjohn and Andrew Whitehead, playing half a dozen roles between them, display the facades their characters present to the world, and then reveal the malign creatures within. The spirit of Christmas takes many forms; this Oliver Twist connects us to that which rejoices in the power of love and compassion.
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Oliver Twist is at Hull Truck theatre until 4 January