Dickens meets PJ Harvey (And Oliver it ain’t!)
London Tide (Lyttelton, National Theatre, London) Verdict: Sombre Dickensian reboot ★★★☆☆
Love’s Labour’s Lost (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon)
Verdict: Labour of love ★★★★☆
COR blimey, Charlie Dickens! What’ve they done with the title of yer book? It looks like it’s been half-inched! Well, whatever you call it, Ben Power’s threeand-a- quarter-hour precis of Dickens’s 900-page tome Our Mutual Friend (renamed London Tide) — with songs by singer-songwriter PJ Harvey — is at least a faithful tribute.
It also happens to be a good fit with modern fantasies of social inclusion, in a story that sees women extolled, men chastised and social mobility accomplished.
It’s been fig-leafed to disguise Dickens’s period sexual politics, but such prudery is de rigueur with today’s wokerati.
Nor should we underestimate Power’s achievement in taming this narrative leviathan. He plots a steady course through the tale of John Rokesmith, returning in secret to England to deal with the legacy of his late (tyrannical) father’s will.
The result is a teeming portrait of 19th- century London that only occasionally gets stuck in the silt of its own plot. Maybe the colour of Dickens’s prose is lacking in Ian Rickson’s efficient but sombre production. Perhaps this was sup
posed to be supplied by Harvey’s accompanying folk songs. But they miss the punch and swagger of some of her best tunes and trudge to a gloomier beat — especially when sung by the cast in estuary-flat, cockney vowels (Oliver! it ain’t).
Even so, Bunny Christie’s staging, in shades of London clay, is visually arresting. A giant lighting rig lowers and lifts over a stage that itself tilts and falls to simulate the Thames’s tidal surge.
Dickens was something of a cartoonist, so there’s not much psychological interest for actors or audience. Still, Tom Mothersdale is impressively furtive as our hero John, while Bella Maclean, as his betrothed Bella Wilfer, is a cheerfully shameless
gold digger. Jamael Westman (as Eugene Wrayburn) and Ami Tredrea (as Lizzie Hexham) drive another powerfully earnest love story. Only Peter Wight — as jolly Noddy Boffin — gets to have some fun, sharing his jackpot inheritance.
PS: Should you happen to buy a programme, you may be amused to find an unfortunate typo concealed on page 30. The good people of Gloucestershire may prefer not to probe.
A NEW era at the RSC, with the dynamic duo of Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey at the helm, opens with a sunny and (eventually) charming rendition of Shakespeare’s slightly tricky romcom Love’s Labour’s Lost. The story’s beentrans÷ posed to a wellness centre, where four young bucks vow to improve themselves by fasting, studying and seeing no women... That is, until a delegation of eye- catching ladies turn up to negotiate a deal with the boss.
Rising- star director Emily Burns, who impressed with Dear Octopus at the National Theatre, tries a little too hard at the start, overloading the stage with the fuss of an exclusive health resort. She barely copes with Shakespeare’s lamentable, supposedly comic, ventures into Latin wordplay.
There is also confusion caused by a roving band in Hawaiian shirts combining Spanish guitar music with Polynesian flute playing. Where exactly are we?
But once we’ve got through this contextual toil, the show comes alight, as the boys scribble secret sonnets to the girls and perform the Backstreet Boys’ I Want It That Way — while wearing suits of armour.
Joanna Scotcher’s creamy set of twin stone staircases, palm trees and cloudless skies is a holiday brochure dream.
But as always the play works better in the character contests than in the big concept. In particular, horribly handsome Luke Thompson (Bridgerton’s Benedict), as supercilious playboy Berowne, meets his match in Ioanna Kimbook’s Rosaline — the savviest of the four women.
Her polite smile and scornful eyerolls crucify his most ardent endeavours. She knows that Berowne needs to grow up, because love is a game of consequence.
London Tide runs until June 22 (nationaltheatre.org.uk). Love’s Labour’s Lost runs until May 18 (rsc.org.uk)