The first-half curtain is a cliffhanger tableau: innocent young Oliver Twist is in the hands of the constabulary; Mr Brownlow (Oliver’s grandfather – though neither knows this, yet) is standing by; the guilty Artful Dodger watches, aghast, from a bridge above the London street – what will gangmaster Fagin say? Curtain up on the second half: in the Three Cripples drinking den, Nancy is belting out an upbeat Oom-Pah-Pah – and Cat Simmons (who plays her) fairly bounces the grim meanings of the lyrics off its trombone oomph (“She was from the country/ But now she’s up a gum-tree/ She let a feller beat ’er, then lead ’er along/ What’s the good o’ cryin’?”). In walks Bill Sikes, with his stick and his dog. Fun freezes; audience gasps (dog barks).
It’s easy to see why Oliver! took 23 curtain calls on its 1960 opening night. Lionel Bart’s adaptation is dramatically astute, his music and lyrics counterpoint light and dark. Paul Kerryson’s production cleverly plays with these contrasts to evoke the moral chiaroscuro of Charles Dickens’s 19th-century London (made physical in Matt Kinley’s shape-shifting design). The cheery sellers singing Who Will Buy? hold out their wares to the audience, smiles on their lips but, as no one does buy, increasing despair around their eyes: from misfortune to destitution to workhouse death is an easy slide. It’s a deft touch, a shadow that darkens the comfortable Bloomsbury world Oliver has now woken up to.
Peter Polycarpou’s Fagin is a model of moral vacillation. You could pity him, until you compare Oliver’s bright courage (strongly conveyed by Albert Hart) with the cheery cravenness of the Dodger (talented Joel Fossard-Jones, a far cry from his previous Curve role, as Adrian Mole). Seemingly invincible in his brutality, Oliver Boot’s Bill is shattered by simultaneous seismic realisations: he has killed Nancy; he loves Nancy. And so he should be! Simmons’s Nancy is vibrant, complex and terrifyingly credible. A strong ensemble, quick-footed choreography (Andrew Wright) and bracing pacing (Ben Atkinson, musical direction) – who could ask for more?
