CityLife

Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist
Bolton Octagon
November 2009

AFTER last year's terrific production of A Christmas Carol, which broke all box-office records at the Octagon, this year's choice is yet another popular Dickens classic: Oliver Twist.

This new production has a double twist, if you'll pardon the pun, because it's been vigorously adapted for the stage by Deborah McAndrew, who played fashion designer Angie Freeman in Coronation Street and is energetically directed by Olivier-nominated Josette Bushell-Mingo, who originally starred in the West End production of The Lion King.

Inevitably there's the West End hallmark of belting out the songs to the back row, sometimes at the expense of subtlety. But hopefully the over-exuberant youngsters in the cast will calm down enough to make the London street urchins more realistic and less like a stage school end-of-term party. The saving grace is the quiet stillness of young Alex Loughlin who is a real find as Oliver.

Jolly

Dawn Allsopp's imaginative, multi-layered set perfectly evokes Victorian London with good use made of the rickety stairs leading to smoke-belching chimneys. There's not much room left for the large cast to perform on what remains of the thrust stage, narrating and singing in between scene changes.

Maintaining the storyline throughout is a nucleus of seven good, professional adult actors who play several roles. Most notably Tim Francis, as both Mr Bumble and the terrifying Bill Sykes, Andrew Price as Mr Sowerby and Oliver's saviour Mr Brownlow with Robert Pickavance playing three roles including the manipulative but charismatic Fagin.

More rehearsal time spent on the songs, so that they are as good as the more dramatic scenes, will make all the difference to this show. Although some of the cast play musical instruments, the out of tune trombone provided the only sour note in an otherwise jolly production.