Review of David Copperfield – Dickens distilled into an innovative novel trilogy | stage

TThe first approach to the holiday season can always be marked, in the theatre, by the raising of Charles Dickens’ Ghost of Christmas. Here’s something different about Scrooge and his ghosts, though, ready for a season of goodwill. Three actors lead this lively tale of a Victorian boy’s misfortune, adventure – and a formative trip to Yarmouth.

Written and directed by Abigail Pickard-Pryce, who was behind last year’s three-person film Pride and Prejudice, the film is much more than just a parlor game. Produced by the Guildford Shakespeare Company, and starring Luke Barton (of Pride and Prejudice), Louise Beresford and Eddie Payne, it carries over the quick-witted staging of the old discount Shakespeare Company. Like them, it retains the essence of the original, with a little mischief and delightful invention.

The scene changes are quick, evoked by the revolving suitcases, from which props are lifted, but they also suggest David’s journeys into adulthood. Yarmouth, where he meets Emily, Ham and company, evokes the waves separated from the folds of Emily’s turquoise dress. David’s stepfather, Edward Murdstone, is represented by a hat and coat doll; This unknown makes him assert himself convincingly as he imposes his violent “firmness” on his stepson.

There are some plot omissions and missing secondary characters, while David’s attraction to Emily is not given enough time to become emotionally impactful. But what is striking is the dense plot of Dickens’s story and the large proliferation of characters that three actors are able to combine, in a very charming way.

Payne plays David, and he carries the persona of both a boy and a man. Barton brings excellent physical comedy to his transformations – from the wise-cracking Peggotty to Micawber, Spenlow, and more. Beresford is charming as she moves between David’s “child wife” Dora and his glamorous school friend Steerforth, among others.

Sometimes they change costumes on stage, and sometimes they switch between characters by wearing different hats. Only on a few occasions do you feel very nervous. In its comedic eccentricity, it is reminiscent of an Armando Iannucci film. The story’s tragic notes also appear in the fate of Emily, Ham, and David’s various losses.

Never mind the Ghost of Christmas Past. David Copperfield brings the magic of Dickens here.