Charles Dickens visited Lancaster in 1861 with Wilkie Collins and gave the town a mention in The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices. What he didn’t do was set Oliver Twist on a wooded hillside overlooking Morecambe Bay, but the Dukes’s annual walkabout production is a game attempt to imagine what might have happened if he had.
The story may be among Dickens’ most urban creations, but Debbie Oates’ treatment transfers to a semi-rural setting surprisingly well. It’s not difficult to conceive Fagin’s gang as a group of feral urchins camped out among the trees: “Our park, our rules!” the posse, drawn from the Dukes Young Company, shout with an edge of genuine menace (a word of caution – pickpockets may operate within this area).
As for Oliver’s ascension to Mr Brownlow’s grand house, there’s nothing grander than the Ashton Memorial, Lancaster’s answer to the Taj Mahal, erected by “the Linoleum King”, the first Baron Ashton, in memory of his wife. Brownlow’s kindly insistence that “the boy needs air” certainly rings true, though the winds whipping across from the Cumbrian Fells might be more air than the boy strictly needs.
Even in July, the gusts are strong enough to ensure that some of the dialogue in Joe Sumsion’s production gets blown out of earshot; though Oliver is a familiar enough narrative to be able to follow even with the inevitable concisions. Leigh Symonds’ doubling as Sikes and Brownlow means you lose the climactic chase across the rooftops, but in compensation there’s a spectacular scene in which Josie Cerise’s Dodger is sprung to an island in the middle of a boating lake. The conclusion, in which the junior outlaws claim possession of the escarpment, feels closer to Robin Hood than Oliver Twist – it’s their park and their rules.
• At Williamson Park, Lancaster, until 15 August. Box office: 01524 598 500.
