The Final Twist
Please Sir… may I ‘ave some more?
First published in the Sunday Leader, sometime in 2006.
Saturday, the 14th of October 2006. A day that will live in infamy, for on this day I witnessed an event that spells doom for Sri Lankan Western Musical theatre. It was truly awful. I have never seen such a brutal slaying of an entire country’s theatre in my entire life. We should burn our stages now before this offense is committed ever again.
The Workshop Players could have put together an average performance and saved the whole industry if they wanted to. But instead what they chose was something that could only be described with adjectives such as ‘brilliant’ and ‘dazzling’. Some of it classes as the best theatre I have seen in the last fifteen years, and that is saying a lot.
Productions this good illuminate the utter pits which other theatre in this country calls home. Without Oliver(!) we could have got on with our lives in total ignorance of just what a good theatre production looks and sounds like. We could have endured our crotch-fondling thespians for another decade without knowing any better. But after being exposed to this our eyes were opened and we might just be more wary in future.
The production wasn’t without faults and deserves a detailed examination, so let us begin as before with…
The Title
Oliver! The Musical.
…
Let’s move on.
The Stage
No dual sliding platforms here. Only one moving platform here and it spins instead. Occupying the rear center stage, this two-sided construction had a set of double doors in the middle and a pair of curved stairways flanking the door on one facing. The stairways lead to the second level, which allowed actors to traverse the stage on a walkway suspended about eight feet off the stage floor.
The rotating platform allowed quick set changes along with some of the slickest stagehand work I’ve seen in a very long time. The production also incorporated set changes into the onstage action itself, with ‘drunken’ actors (and some stagehands pretending to be drunken actors) staggering away with the tavern’s furniture.
I was also thrilled with the way the actors traversed the stage. Movement was always fluid and natural, and never once did I hear heavy footfalls on the stage to spoil the illusion.
I have two comments. The first is that the suspended walkway was too high off the stage floor and any adult actor standing there would have their heads blocked from view of anyone in the upper balcony. Unfortunately I’m guessing it couldn’t have been made any lower so if you’re in the balcony, be prepared for some of the best headless-torso acting this side of the equator.
Second, I felt that the centre platform was rotated a couple of times (the first as Oliver leaves the orphanage) during the action purely to highlight the fact that the production had a spinning centre platform.
“Behold, our young Oliver leaves to find his fortunes in the outside world! Will he succeed, or will he be caught in the Wheel of Doom?”
“Place your bets!”
“WHHEEEEEEEEE!”
Ahem.
The Fog.
There was fog. They used smoke machines and they made no sound that interfered with the performance. Indoors it looked like smoke from a fireplace. Outdoors it looked like fog on a damp London night.
The Lighting & Sound
The lighting opening scene when Oliver is discovered on the steps of the orphanage was truly inspired. There was a sense of depth conveyed in that scene that I have never seen matched anywhere. The rest of the play had the lighting used to best support the action on stage. Bright spots were used sparingly and never intruded upon the action. It was never a struggle to keep focused on the actors.
Still, I question the use of a strobe light during the chase scene. I do know what the production wanted to achieve with its use, but it was very jarring and at odds with the lighting used throughout the rest of the play.
The sound was generally good. The soundtrack never drowned out the singing. Microphones were used by the principles during singing and worked for the most part. There were no physical impacts on microphones to be heard and thing were kept as unobtrusive as possible.
The Costumes
Were all well done. There may have been a few historical inaccuracies and some of the children didn’t look like they were dressed warmly enough for London’s weather but that’s just me nitpicking. At no point did the actors give any indication that their costumes hindered movement or their performance in any way.
I may also have been hallucinating those cart-wheeling clowns.
The Cast (& Acting)
I’d say about sixty percent of the actors were children. I’d like to meet the madman who thought this would be a good idea. Thankfully, in this case it worked without a hitch. The children were a true delight.
I believe this production made do with one cast. However, I’ve heard that some of the cast members would alternate roles on different nights so you may see different people in specific roles than I witnessed.
The adults were mostly good. The supporting cast did tend to overact a tad bit and exaggerate their gestures a little too much but this can be forgiven as the audience seldom focused on them for long.
The principle actors were exceptional. When Nancy walked on stage my first impression was that I was going to loathe her performance but with each passing minute I found that her acting, singing and dancing were iron-clad. The girl did her role justice. Similarly Sykes was enthralling. True menace personified, an utterly flawless performance.
Fagin was not quite so clear-cut. He had enormous stage presence and delivered his performance admirably, apart from the fact that his accent rendered a good portion of his performance unintelligible. He still gets through on his charisma alone, but sadly this shortcoming brings me to the only real low points of the production.
Adopting an accent that is not one’s own is usually essential when portraying a piece set in a different time and place, though it should always take second place to clarity. Fagin’s performance was rounded enough that his vocals can be forgiven for being a little muddled at times.
Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Sowerberry do not get away so lightly. They both butcher their accents quite convincingly. Mr. Bumble should also have no business singing on stage as he cannot carry a tune. Mrs. Sowerberry’s voice is so intentionally shrill that she should not be allowed to speak on stage if at all possible. She may have been trying to achieve a piercing tone of voice and she has succeeded and surpassed that goal by a considerable margin and moved to the point where the effect of her voice can be measured by the level of pain it induces in the listeners’ ears.
Still, there is a possibility you may catch different actors in these roles so it may not be so bad for you.
Oh, and Oliver was cute but he gets a little lost in all the fuss. I can’t say if this was a good or a bad thing.
The Singing and Dancing
Apart from the aforementioned exception the singing was generally good to excellent throughout the entire play. Similarly the dancing was fluid and un-forced. There was never a sense that any actor was asked to do more than they were capable. It was nice to see that many people on the Lionel Wendt stage moving dancing without a hitch.
In Conclusion
A sad, sad day. How long will we have to wade through sinking gondolas and political wizardry before we see the likes of this production again?
I admit, it wasn’t perfect. Far from it.
But there was a sense that the production truly cared about giving their best to the audience. And that, is what truly matters in the end.
