Fagin’s Twist
30th October, 2018
I have a confession to make.
When I requested tickets
for Fagin’s Twist, I didn’t realise that it was dance theatre. Should have got
a clue from it being from Avant Garde Dance company, but I just skipped ahead,
excited by the prospect of a new version of Oliver Twist, foregrounding Fagin.
So, my experience was coloured by my dance-illiteracy and wrongful
expectations.
People will be familiar with Dickens’ Oliver Twist from
numerous tv and film adaptations, and from Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver! So why
make a dance version? What can it add? Dance is a good medium to explore
patterns and systems, group dynamics, also for exploring relationships,
expressed in spatial closeness or distance, and emotion which otherwise might
be unexpressed/ inexpressible.
It’s not, in my opinion, so good for carrying narrative
or a character’s internal world. In musicals, which can have a strong dance
element, it’s generally the songs which convey the internal life of the
characters. Director / Choreographer Tony Adigun made the choice, early on in
the process, not to use songs, so he informed us in the after-show talk. Though
he does reference in the spoken text the numbers from Bart’s musical, as
pointers. I think songs would have helped to illuminate their inner worlds and character
development.
In the first half, having started off on the wrong
foot, I was often baffled as to what was going on. I guessed, because I knew
the ‘twist’, that the characters we were seeing were Fagin and Bill Sykes, at
their beginning. But it was just a guess. They are deliberately not named,
presumably to leave open the possible identification of them with Oliver
himself. The second half begins with Dodger recapping and naming what we’ve
seen in the first half. I don’t know if this is intended as a revelation, or an
acknowledgement that the narrative is unclear.
The dancing throughout is extraordinarily accomplished,
and visually exciting. The staging is ingenious, making full use of the levels
and apertures of the wooden set. There’s lots to look at and admire. But for
me, it doesn’t quite make up for the lack of characterisation and confusing
narrative. We’re told of the poverty and hunger, but I never really felt its
effects on the characters. In the workhouse scene, I got that it was very much
like a prison, but I didn’t feel it. Possibly the suppleness and energy of the
performers undermined any sense of restriction and imprisonment that was meant
to be conveyed. It was so delightful watching the dancers weave in and out of
windows and doors, leap up and down levels, that it was hard to feel the
pressure to escape. Similarly, they radiated such buoyant energy and health
that the crushing effects of hunger and misery didn’t really come across.
Because of the lack of narrative clarity in movement,
the production was very dependent on the text to carry the story and the
character change. But the monologues delivered by admitted non-actors lacked
the necessary vocal range and inflection. An almost impossible task to follow
such energetic and variable movement.
The second half felt more focused. The character of
Nancy came across clearly. The ensemble created a fine sense of group cohesion
in the pickpocketing sequences. Fagin’s professed protectiveness and family
feeling for his bunch of urchins felt believable. The fight scenes made full
use of the cast’s expressive movements. And the ‘twist’ when it came, of
Oliver’s treachery worked well, culminating in the killing of Nancy.
Overall, it was an astonishing
technical achievement, impeccably choreographed and danced. But I didn’t come
away with any new insights of sympathy for the characters who had been
reframed, Fagin and Bill Sykes. Lovers of dance will love it. Dickens-lovers
may leave scratching their heads.
Gerry Byrne
