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A CurtainUp New Jersey Review
Oliver Twist
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"See what pride they take in their profession." — Fagin |
Although there is a formidable list of famous novels that have made the transition with distinction, most notably the Royal Shakespeare Company’s nine-hour Nicholas Nickleby that premiered exactly thirty years ago, that novel’s author Charles Dickens has, in particular, been a rich source for British adaptor Neil Bartlett whose version of A Christmas Carol was a huge success internationally and specifically in two separate productions at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.
Bartlett’s zealously streamlined, if slightly trivialized, but also entirely admirable version of Oliver Twist using only Dickens’s text takes a little more than two hours to tell the story of the homeless orphan Oliver and how he survived as an enslaved ten-year-old pickpocket on the streets of London. Until he is he is rescued from a life of petty crime and abject poverty by a rather miraculous stroke of fortune, his mainly grim adventures as a pawn among the dregs of society are not only inherently melodramatic, but also especially receptive to Bartlett’s only-the-highlights approach. I admire as well as see the value in his decision to have some fun with Dickens’s novel.
Although this is definitely Dickens light, Bartlett does not ignore the core message of the novel – exposing child exploitation and abuse as well as the social conditions prevalent in 19th century London. Despite its condensed narrative, Bartlett gives us a nicely compacted and also cleverly persuasive perspective of the seediest and most sordid aspects of the Victorian era.
While many of us are familiar with Lionel Bart’s popular, frequently produced musical version, there is no lack of musical punctuations of the a capella variety throughout the play, a disarming conceit that has been a part of this production since it premiered at London’s Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in 2004. At first, the almost jocular tone of this production, under the faster-than-a-speeding bullet direction of Brian B. Crowe, may be a little disconcerting to purists, but all I can say is “get over it.”
For those looking for dreary, it is performed in a superbly dark (terrific atmospheric lighting by Andrew Hungerford) and inhospitable unit setting designed by Brian J. Ruggaber, a makeshift workhouse that nicely accommodates quick transitions to many locations. What is most commendable about Crowe’s direction is the nice balance he achieves between the lurid, grisly staged events and the often laugh-worthy characterizations. With a cast of thirteen performing a myriad of roles, there are quite a few standouts.
Most striking about this version is how primary to the staging is the presence of the Artful Dodger, as the narrator/point-of-view character who threads the episodes together. He is played with a wickedly endearing panache by Robbie Collier Sublett, an Associate Artist with the Civilians Theatre Company, who is returning for his fourth season at STNJ. Sublett’s gracefully deployed body language and his glib dexterity with the text are as essential to our enjoyment of this version as is untypical approach that Ames Adamson takes as the seductively duplicitous Fagin. Watch closely and you can detect an almost giddy glimmer of insanity in Adamson’s performance as the master thief. While his ethnicity is barely acknowledged, his performance is well calculated to not only strike terror in the hearts of his charges, but to also send chills down your spine.
Although Quentin McCuiston has the title role, his role as written and performed is little more than that of a cipher, a pathetic, innocuous victim of the times who gets tossed, pummeled, and/or pushed from one awful predicament to the next in his search for a family. Whether by purpose or design Oliver’s lack of any discernable personality does not stand in the way of the vile and violent types who make their mark in this production, including Jeffrey M. Bender, as the most brutal of them all, the murderous Bill Sykes. Corey Tazmania elicits our empathy as his lady friend prostitute Nancy. Her death at the hands of Sykes is an especially horrifying scene.
Kudos to the company of rough and tumble pickpockets who make no attempt to be anything more than honest reflections of their hard-scrabble existence. The comically grotesque performances by those in the many supporting roles, some acting en travestie, add to the entertaining dramatic mosaic that Bartlett has created from a formidable work of fiction.
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Oliver Twist Adapted by Neil Bartlett from the novel by Charles Dickens Directed by Brain B. Crowe Cast: George Abud, Ames Adamson, Jeffrey M. Bender, Andrew Boyer, Eric Hoffman, John Little, David Andrew Laws, Quentin McCuiston, Meg, Smith, , Andy Paterson, Robbie Collier Sublett, Tina Stafford, Corey Tazmania. Scenic Designer: Brian J. Ruggaber Costume Designer: Nancy Leary Lighting Designer: Andrew Hungerford Sound Designer: Steven L. Beckel Original music & music direction: Kris Kukul Running Time: 2 hours 10 minutes including intermission Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, (located on the campus of Drew University) 36 Madison Avenue, Madison, New Jersey (973) 408 – 5600 Performances: Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday at 7:30 PM; Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM; and Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM. Tickets ($32.00 - $70.00) From 09/12/12 Opened 09/15/12 Ends 10/07/12 Review by Simon Saltzman based on performance 09/15/12 |
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