Oliver! – Chichester Festival Theatre

Simon Lipkin in Oliver! at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Picture: Johan Persson

Oliver! continues at the Chichester Festival Theatre until 7 September 2024. The production will begin performances at the Gielgud Theatre, London on 14 December 2024.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This Cameron Mackintosh revival is good old-fashioned entertainment. It delivers. From the tiniest of tots up, the cast is superb. It’s a tight, busy ensemble; everyone working, working, working to create the hustle and bustle of the city backstreets.

The choreography (director Matthew Bourne – of course, it’s outstanding; co-director is Jean-Pierre van der Spuy) is almost the star of the show. It’s not the bits between scenes; it’s all of it. If anything, it’s a ballet with some songs thrown in. The ‘dance numbers’ are incredibly energetic, but it’s more than that. The entire show is choreographed from start to finish, down to the smallest detail. Everything and everyone is constantly on the move – including the stage.

Lez Brotherston’s revolving set is inventive and used to great effect, including two spiral staircases and a drawbridge (projections: George Reeve). All sooty black, with greasy yellow lighting (Paule Constable, Ben Jacobs,), it evokes Victorian London’s grimy underbelly well. I loved the slow-motion chase through the smog, the pub scene with one woman drinking straight from the barrel, Fagin’s den with its grubby curtain, and the huge looming workhouse doors.

The sound quality is excellent too, with credit to sound designer Adam Fisher and musical supervisor/conductor Graham Hurman (new orchestrations are by Stephen Metcalfe).

And what of the performers who embody these well-known Dickens characters? The children – there are three teams of youngsters – were outstanding. They worked their raggedy socks off, never missing a beat. For the performance reviewed, Cian Eagle-Service played the title role, with a lovely clear voice, a nice vulnerability and obvious confidence. Billy Jenkins, as the Artful Dodger, was a master Cockney lad personified.

There are also some fantastic character performances. Standouts are Oscar Conlon-Morrey as Mr Bumble and Katy Secombe as Widow Corney – a great double act. Stephen Matthews is deliciously terrifying as the haunted Victorian pencil, Mr Sowerberry.

Shanay Holmes as Nancy has a mighty pair of lungs and bags of energy, but I would have liked a bit more vulnerability/brokenness about her, to explain her love for the hideous Bill Sikes. I wondered whether this aspect of the show (domestic violence) was slightly downplayed, as Sikes (Aaron Sidwell) didn’t create the sense of brooding menace and unpredictability I was expecting.

But the star of this production is undoubtedly Simon Lipkin’s Fagin. The performer has created a colourful melting pot of a Fagin with a hint of Roma, a touch of pirate – all the outsiders rolled into one. Lipin makes the character lovable, he interacts with the audience panto-style and is much less of a caricature than is often seen in this show. He is also given the chance, with some script additions, to explore the reasons for his behaviour. This updating is elegantly done.

This show is not lavish; it’s densely packed and full of good stuff like a hearty pie-and-mash supper. Standing ovations of course and then it’s a quick march off to the West End. Fantastic.

Kat Wootton