Review of Oliver!: A spectacle worthy of Dickens, writes GEORGINA BROWN

Olivier! (Chichester Festival Theatre)

Verdict: A spectacle worthy of Dickens

Rating:

What a difference that exclamation mark made. Lionel Bart reinvented Dickens’s great novel Oliver Twist, about poverty, child exploitation and murder, as a fairy tale, full of joyous cockney frolics and lovely, hummable melodies.

At the age of 13, Cameron Mackintosh was captivated by the original 1960 production and, ever since, Oliver! has become a central theme in his theatre life.

At 19, he was an assistant stage manager (also playing a pie seller) on the show’s first tour.

As a producer, his spectacular and lavish 1994 production, directed by Sam Mendes with a “musical staging” by Matthew Bourne, ran for over three years and was later resurrected by Rupert Goold, starring Rowan Atkinson among others as Fagin the money-grubbing robber.

Taking inspiration from Fagin, Mackintosh examines the situation 30 years later, with Bourne as both director and choreographer of a stripped-down show without big names.

While it’s still an unabashed love letter to Bart and a rugged, steamy Dickensian London, the tone is more complex, hitting darker notes and, once it gets going, tells a gripping, spine-chilling story, thanks to Aaron Sidwell’s bloodless, steely, and terribly brutal Bill Sikes. That scar on his skull means danger.

Bourne’s spring-loaded, high-kicking, petticoat-flapping dancers fill every inch of the stage. With the rotation running at full tilt, designer Lez Brotherston conjures up a dizzying canvas of glorious and stark London views, capturing the noisy bustle of street life with beautifully dark backdrops of the Thames and St Paul’s on the horizon, as well as scenes of quiet cruelty behind closed doors.

The gaunt orphans in the workhouse look genuinely half-starved, their rations clearly being redirected towards the greedy necks of Oscar Conlon-Morrey’s garrulous, blustering Mr Bumble and his girlfriend, Katy Secombe’s widow Corney, who is voracious in every sense of the word.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Oliver, played by Cian Eagle-Service, a perfectly composed, solemn and stoic lovable boy, doesn’t seem to be suffering too much from being forced to sleep in a coffin by the hilarious cadaverous Mr and Mrs Sowerberry. (This is a series full of strange partnerships.)

Taken under the wing of the dapper Artful Dodger (Billy Jenkins), he finds gin and fun aplenty in Fagin’s lair, where the fleet-fingered, wily gang leader ingeniously slips coins behind his ear. Simon Lipkin plays Fagin as a handsome, kohl-eyed, Johnny Depp-esque Central European vaudevillian in a tattered dress who seems genuinely (rather than creepily) attached to his band of lost boys.

Lipkin overdoes the improvisation a bit, occasionally breaking the fourth wall to brag about himself and the show, but he also manages to persuade us that Fagin’s exploitation of little boys and his all-consuming greed are only sensible protection for his future in old age. But the heart and soul of this show belongs to Shanay Holmes’s degraded, defiant, broken and heartbreaking Nancy, who leaves no doubt that a life spent selling herself has exacted a terrible emotional toll. Her performance of As Long As He Needs Me steals the show.

A West End tour has already been announced. What more could you ask for?

Until September 7th.

Fangirls (Lyrics by Hammersmith, London)

Verdict: Poppy pleasure

Rating:

Anyone who ever had a teenage crush on a pop star will enjoy this scintillating new musical from Australia, where it was a huge hit. It’s about Edna (Jasmine Elcock), a 14-year-old outcast who takes her fan-girling a little too far.

Edna, a scholarship student, is obsessed with Harry (Thomas Grant), the curly-haired lead singer of the boy band Heartbreak Nation (sound familiar?).

When she and her school friends, kindly pacifist Brianna (Miracle Chance) and mean attention-seeker Jules (Mary Malone), try to get tickets to the band’s Sydney concert, Edna’s single mother Caroline (Debbie Kurup) can’t afford them, while pampered Jules invites only Brianna as a guest.

Edna then hatches a plan with the help of Salty (Terique Jarrett), her online friend and Harry fanfiction author. She kidnaps the singer after the concert, convinced that Harry is trapped by his success and that they should run away together, like heroes in one of his fantasies. But first she must hide him in her room…

As things unfold, in the best musical style, lessons are learned, apologies are made, and everyone comes out a better person.

The sometimes clownish comedy undercuts some of the darker elements – including teenage loneliness, self-harm and parental divorce – that Yve Blake (who wrote the book, music and lyrics) hints at but doesn’t elaborate on.

Director Paige Rattray, assembling a young cast, gives the evening the sparkling energy it needs, aided greatly by Ebony Williams’ punchy choreography and Jessica Hung Han Yun’s terrific lighting, designed to make us feel like we’re at a stadium concert.

Mr Grant (who perfected Harry’s hair flick) and Miss Elcock sing beautifully, and the songs are a decent – if samey – pastiche of the boy band genre.

Until August 24.

Red Swimsuit (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond)

Verdict: Dive in

Rating:

There are those who may go for Red Speedo for the wrong reasons – like the prospect of spending 90 minutes with Peaky Blinders’ hunky Finn Cole wearing nothing but the titular scarlet budgie smugglers.

But Lucas Hnath’s play about American swimmer Ray, played by Cole — tempted to take drugs to qualify for the Olympics and secure a sponsorship deal — is also a cleverly crafted drama about compelling human dilemmas.

At its best, Hnath’s writing reminded me of the great David Mamet, author of Glengarry Glen Ross. In fact, students of Mamet’s writing might be inclined to retitle Hnath’s 2013 play Speedo-the-Plow.

Like Mamet, he takes ordinary Americans and sets them in sordid moral gray areas. There’s even a touch of Greek tragedy, with the comically stupid swimmer falling, before dropping him in stages.

Ray’s lawyer brother Peter (a swindler Ciaran Owens) is keen to cash in on his commercial value and tries to dissuade Ray’s suspicious coach (Fraser James) from reporting his alleged doping to the authorities.

Ray, however, is also in the thrall of his ex-girlfriend Lydia (Parker Lapaine), a hard-core drug addict, who he hopes will keep him on anabolic steroids that have boosted his libido to unmanageable levels.

It all comes to a comically violent conclusion in Matthew Dunster’s impressive production, which reinvents the Orange Tree Theatre.

Anna Fleischle’s design creates Ray’s training baths using a coffin-sized pool with aluminum steps; while the entire theater is wrapped in blue ripples.

Holly Khan’s sound adds gym echoes and the honk of a starting siren for each scene, ensuring a short, clean and enjoyable show.