Period drama is given some sharp edges on this adaptation of Charles Dickens’ final accomplished novel, Our Mutual Buddy, set to a plangent soundtrack by PJ Harvey. The result’s a dose of Dickens, and Harvey, as by no means seen or heard earlier than.
There may be some dissonance of their unlikely assembly however there are sparks of brilliance, too. Directed by Ian Rickson, this story of poverty and sophistication mobility is mild on the satire and heavy on temper, strikingly staged as a type of Nineteenth-century noir in an impressively pared-down adaptation by Ben Energy.
“This can be a story about London and demise and resurrection,” the forged sings by the use of introduction, in London Track. It’s a neat summation of a sprawling story with difficult subplots made surprisingly streamlined by Energy. The main target is on Bella Wilfer (Bella Maclean), an impoverished younger lady promised the hand of a wealthy man, now presumed useless, and her relationship with mysterious newcomer John Rokesmith (Tom Mothersdale). There’s additionally siblings Lizzie (Ami Tredrea) and Charley Hexam (Brandon Grace), the youngsters of a boatman (Jake Wooden), who should take care of the legacy of their father’s obvious crimes.
Bunny Christie’s set creates its world with little or no. A Nineteenth-century London infested with crime and poverty rises out of darkness. Single planks held by actors are boats; our bodies splash into unseen waters; ingeniously, the tidal motion of the Thames is evoked with the sway of the sunshine rigging overhead. It’s counterintuitive for such heavy equipment to signify the move of water, and but it does so to superior impact.
The songs are anti-ballads, of types, with massive pitch leaps between notes, accompanied by a single beat drum. Lyrics (by Harvey and Energy) are as spare because the set design, bluntly easy at occasions however with meanings which might be typically gnomic.
Their seriousness provides the story a lugubrious depth but additionally undercuts Dickens’ satire and levity. And whereas the drama strains to provide the broader characters some depth as an entire, it doesn’t all the time work – notably within the case of evil schoolmaster Bradley Gravestone (Scott Karim), a pantomime villain whose murderous motivation is desperately underexplained.
The play winds as much as a melodramatic finish, with its potboiler components uncovered, nevertheless it nonetheless retains a curious energy, and performances shine. Wooden is entertaining because the gruff boatman and Tredrea is great because the self-sacrificing Lizzie. Maclean brings a marvellous voice, adept at navigating Harvey’s difficult notes, and sings numbers like Night and Holloway fantastically. Mothersdale, magnetic as ever, delivers the twist round his identification with gasping revelation. And though Jenny is a minor position – a doll-maker and pal to Lizzie – Ellie-Could Sheridan is a shining star of the present along with her mixture of steely character and endearing speak of her dolls.
Characters sing downstage, going through us immediately, as if in declaration, and narration right here is shared in order that the story is fluidly instructed. Energy creates stronger, freer girls: neither Lizzie nor Bella follows the chronology of the ebook into marriage. Each have higher company and Lizzie’s burden of guilt, in addition to her sense of obligation to rescue the flawed males round her, nonetheless resonates for immediately.
