Theatrical adaptations of Dickens's novels are easily overdone; the abundance of crowd-pleasing caricatures can foster pantomime productions, with every mannerism played for maximum laughs. And then, of course, there are the accents... Opting for Stephen Jeffreys's tried-and-tested adaptation of Hard Times, Sheffield's Compass Theatre Company, for the most part, happily eschewed these dangers.
The setting is Coketown, somewhere in the heart of mid-19th century industrial England, and Neil Irish's design of cogs, ladders and scaffolding conveys a sense of back-breaking toil.
As the quartet of actors take on four or five main parts each, you have to keep your wits about you, though events and biographies that have not been dramatised are rendered by well-timed asides. Simon Harvey begins convincingly as the soulless disciplinarian Mr Gradgrind, who insists on the superiority of fact over fancy, and demands that his two daughters do likewise.
From there, Harvey drops his shoulders and picks up an accent to become the hard-working lad Stephen Blackpool, who has been ostracised for not joining the union. Best of all, though, is Harvey's portrayal of the son, Tom Gradgrind, the bowler-hatted, sprightly youth who is all elbows and knee and unfortunate outcomes.
Verity Hewlett is excellent as Louisa Gradgrind, the prim beauty trying to shake off her father's influence, though occasionally her own nervousness made for a rather tight-chested delivery.
Each actor seemed to have a favourite character. For Michael Onslow this was his amusing Mr Bounderby, a local businessman, a friend of Gradgrind and the unhappy match for Louisa. With a thick-tongued slur, Onslow pronounced his vowels with a gruff northern intonation, chomping on each word. And he fenced to great effect with Sonia Beck's wickedly funny Mrs Sparsit, the eternally grieving (and deceiving) widow.
Directed by Gareth Tudor Price and Neil Sissons, the production is too long. A full three hours may do justice to Dickens's manic energies, but it's asking rather too much of everyone else.
Ends tonight. Box office: 0151-709 4776.
