Oliver Twist review — gruelling Dickens in modern Bristol
★★★☆☆
There’s a contradiction in the Tobacco Factory Theatres’ Dickensian seasonal show. On stage there’s gently drifting snow and the atmospheric strains of choral music. But Adam Peck’s uneven script never quite makes it clear whether the creative team wanted to stage a hard-hitting social commentary or a feelgood family show. Peck and the director Heidi Vaughan try to balance an uplifting message about what truly matters in life with the contemporary parallels of starving children in a cost of living crisis.
Still, there were children laughing at the gags lightly peppered throughout the tale of the orphan Oliver, following his fortunes as he leaves the grim workhouse, falls into the clutches of the thieving Fagin and unwittingly stumbles on his relatives. Updated from Dickensian
