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The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Part I

 
Heather Mort Review by Heather Mort 2 Published: 26 Mar 2012 Show Dates: 31 Dec 1969-31 Dec 1969

To suggest that this Dickens classic suffered a stage death is a slight exaggeration of the Space’s production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, but I must confess it didn’t come to life either. It is clear that it is a well meant production, by a dedicated company, but unfortunately the artistic choices adopted - which in theory should have worked - failed in practice. The task at hand is simply beyond them, and I suspect most theatre companies.

The performance, from its minimalistic set to episodic nature, had a highly presentational quality, and should have successfully translated the novel on the stage. The overall style, however failed to captivate. The orchestration of scenes seemed the direct result of someone taking a hatchet to the novel. Brutal, but a necessary evil. The problem wasn’t the brutality of this - it was the execution and construction of the scene themselves which seemed clumsy and abrupt. The choice of a minimalistic set consisting of four large black boxes, should have liberated the performers, giving building blocks to create scenes. Ironically, they were more of a hindrance. As an audience member I felt aware of frequently being plunged into darkness, while the blocks were awkwardly arranged into ‘new’ configurations. These transitions contributed little and articulated nothing more than varied seating arrangements rather than new environments.

Boasting a cast of 24 performers to cater for 73 speaking parts, the acting style naturally followed suit with performers playing for the most part caricatures rather than characters. All actions/gestures from twitching eyes to dragging feet were premeditated, and grossly over exaggerated purely to indicate the identity of a character rather than to provide insight or depth. The result was something of the melodramatic, or of laboured comic relief. This is not a criticism of the acting company; Andrew Broadhurst in particular gives a great rendition of Squeers. The consequence is that many scenes border on parody, which in turn undermine moments of a serious - dare I say? - naturalistic nature.Overall the heart of the production is in the right place. Such a seemingly impossible task of staging Nicholas Nickleby could only be a labour of love. It is just a shame the production will not fill your life with adventure.

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Performances

The Blurb:

Following the death of his father, Nicholas along with his mother and sister have to depend upon the wealth of their uncle, the self-centred Ralph Nickleby for support and assistance. For Ralph, the descent of his poor relations, interrupting his relentless pursuit of money, is an unwanted distraction.

Drama, comedy and romance combine in this epic adventure performed by an exciting ensemble cast of 28 performers portraying over 70 different characters. Directed by Adam Hemming, a contemporary of Matt Lucas and Hannah Waterman at the National Youth Theatre and a fellow of the RSA, this production will be a worthy celebration of one of Britain’s most beloved writers.

The Director Adam Hemming about the production: With Nicholas Nickleby, Dickens has given us such a rich variety of wonderful characters with complex relationships and fascinating situations.  The dialogue is also a joy to deliver, not a word is wasted and we're relishing getting to grips with it.  Playing the piece in the round not only enables us to make the most of our venue, with every inch of the Space being used, but also gives us some exciting staging opportunities.  We wanted to focus the production on the characters; their motivations and relationships, and so are focussing our design on costume (with over 70 characters, we need to make sure each one is distinct and memorable).  In order to prevent the pace of the piece from dropping as we move from location to location, we've decided to use minimal set and no props at all, focussing instead on lighting, sound and performance to create each environment.  We're confident the production style and talent of our excellent ensemble cast will enable us to create an epic adventure wonderful to behold!