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REVIEWING THE SITUATION
THOS RIBBITS provides his appreciation for "Oliver" performed at St. George's Voluntary Aided School, Harpenden.
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“Where’s the screamer?” I asked myself as I sat in the audience on the opening night. My thoughts were not with banshees or with Edvard Munch but with the exclamation mark (“a screamer” in newspaper parlance) missing from the title of the ever popular British musical, Oliver!, the latest stage production by the talented pupils of St George’s School which played in November 2008 to sell out audiences and much acclaim. As I waited for curtain up, I stared at the programme, pondering the missing punctuation, and my thoughts turned to Lionel Bart, writer of the show. He had a obsession with exclamation marks, using them both for Oliver! (1960) and Blitz! (1962) and then, going completely bonkers, he added two to his notorious failure, Twang!! (1965). Like their financial parallels, punctuation inflation rates, so high in the sixties, are dropping off again, I mused.
Exclamation marks are used to show astonishing news ("They were the footprints of a gigantic hound!") but can often be used lazily to make the uninteresting sound thrilling; the earliest use in a musical seems to be in the less-than-excitingly-named musical play, Postillion! from 1837 – the year before Oliver Twist was written. In the case of St George’s Oliver, however, the decision to dispense with one was taken by the directors, Nicholas Pitman and Stephanie Wilson, to help show the darker side of the story. Was it the right decision, I wondered?
Well, let’s look at that story. It comprises coffins, corruption, cruelty, criminality, child-selling, camaraderie, and rather irritatingly breaking up my alliterative stride, murder! Oliver Twist is a dark tale indeed and yet, like so many of the works of Charles Dickens, there is strong undercurrent of comedy (back to the letter “c” again!). It is the successful balance of the two sides of eighteenth century British culture, casual cruelty and a strong sense of humour, that Bart fused into his take on the Dickens’ original and has made Oliver! arguably the most successful British musical ever .
So was the St George’s School production able to leap upon the opportunities offered by the piece? The answer was clear to everyone on the first night – undoubtedly yes – and this production of the show proved both touching and funny. The piece opened in an orphanage with the well known song, Food Glorious Food, sung by the unfortunate children in the care of Beadle Bumble (Matthew Corry). After the surprise of seeing some of the grimy faced orphans also sporting ruby lipstick, I quickly warmed to Nathan Jones as Oliver. It is a difficult role, because despite being the eponymous hero, Oliver does not have much personality and is really a cipher around which other eccentrics congregate. However, Jones was able to bring a sweetness to the part and won the audience’s heart with ease courtesy of his singing – particularly in the standard, Who Will Buy?
But if Oliver! is about anything, it is about the grotesques and characters that populate his world and these were beautifully brought to life by the cast. Mr Bumble and the Widow Corney (Hannah Wright) were surprising touching in their middle-aged courting, and made the Beadle more human than the rest of the plot would paint him. And surprisingly for an undertaker and his wife, much fun was provided by Ian Cubbon and Helen Charleston as the coffin loving Sowerberrys who employ Oliver as an apprentice. However, the pace of the piece really picks up when our hero absconds to London. There we quickly meet Will Thomas’ agile Artful Dodger, who proves as jammy as his biscuit counterpart in the art of both picking friends and pockets, and his protector, Fagin, dazzlingly portrayed by Simon Wade. This performance was subtle and charismatic – which is a difficult feat. Wade effectively conveyed to the audience his genuine concern for his charges and his reluctance in pushing the envelope of crime so far as to physically harm people and it is to his great credit that he was able to make Fagin so sympathetic. He was well matched in the peerless Gemma Richmond who gave us the brave but doomed Nancy. Her spirited performance helped drive the plot to both its tragic conclusion (hers) and its happier one (Oliver’s); on the strength of this show, Wade and Richmond are talents who we bid “be back soon”. And against this backdrop, mention should be given to some big splashes in small parts; stealing laughs in their cameos were Yewande Akeju as Old Sally and Ed Theakston as the hilarious Dr Grimwig (though I had always assumed his hair was his own) whereas, at the other end of the scale, Teddy Peck gave Bill Sykes an ominous presence.
But a musical is not just about actors (though try telling them that!). On top of the able technical support (sadly not listed in the programme), there was a truly impressive orchestra led by Russell Tucker. His talented musicians were confident and sure handed throughout. Unfair though it is to pick out any one performer, mention must be made of Ben Charlston on piano, who worked overtime covering some occasionally slow scene changes. Music and performance were well fused throughout but the stand-out song was the Act Two opener, Oom-Pah-Pah; the corny music hall style song was given a real sense of vivacity in a way it never has been before for this reviewer; Gemma Richmond was particularly impressive in leading the song, ably supported with some stunning choreography featuring the full chorus. I wanted to see much much more.
In all, this splendid production reminded us that talent and enthusiasm can marry to give a highly impressive production of a tried and tested vehicle – with no reality television show required. St George’s can rightly be proud of its theatrical success. But what of my concerns for the missing titular exclamation-based punctuation? In the end, there was no need for it as this excellent show made its own mark!
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