Oliver!

An atmospheric setting always sets the scene and the stone stark gloom of the Proscenium Ltd scenery certainly did this , giving us the feel of Dickensian London and the horrors of the poor house. A slight change to the opening of this iconic piece by showing the birth of Oliver (an obvious bow to the birth of Elphaba in Wicked) was a nice touch; and the token of the shawl which passed from mother to son to mother figure (Nancy) and then back to Oliver worked for those of us who look for these little nuances. The Orphans/urchins/Fagin’s gang where the backbone of the show, as they should be, all showing passion and vibrancy, including the tiniest Orphan who caused quite a few Ahhs and nearly stole Oliver’s big moment by being so cute. Now on to the comedy, Mr Bumble and his flirty Widow Corney were well matched and a little bit more saucy than usual and this worked well. The Sowerberrys’ (a married couple in reality too) again had perfect rapport and Mrs Sowerberry had a more gentle brashness that worked perfectly in manipulating her husband, daughter and Noah into doing her bidding. Charlotte played as giggly and little vague worked nicely against the Jack the lad approach of Noah Claypole. We then move on to the heavies, although I’m not sure the lovely young lady playing Dodger can be classed as this, she had a lovely style on stage and tried hard to hide her elegance while dancing portraying the roughness of Dodge but you have lovely feet and poise and that’s difficult to hide. She sang with gusto and led the gang with a cheeky grin. Fagin was nicely drawn and a gentle villain with a heart came across well. Nancy had the perfect mix of vulnerability and coarseness and her vocals and stage presence was a highlight in this production. It is great to see the cross section of ages and the bringing together of the local theatre community with productions like Oliver! as this is where memories and inspiration are made, it will be interesting to see what happens next…..Well done everyone.

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