The Everyman’s alternative to the pantomime this year, if you want something not aimed squarely at young children, is The Old Curiosity Shop, co-produced with the Hammerpuzzle Theatre Company. It’s an enjoyable little piece told in a small intimate space and caters well for an audience looking for a slightly obscurer Dickensian thrill at this time of year.

The production largely functions as a Christmas play by association. Dickens obviously wrote the most iconic seasonal story and The Old Curiosity Shop trades on this, with a few wintry details at the close to bind the theme together. I rather like this aspect. Seasonal but at a remove means we can be treated to something a bit different from the same old fare, but it’s not ill-suited for festive viewing.

The small but versatile staging in the Irving Studio really won me over. If you are familiar at all with Hammerpuzzle, this will come as little surprise. They specialise in apt use of minimal sets, a few abstract performance elements like puppetry, and well-considered lighting and sound design to convey much larger and emotionally resonant events than the bounds of the stage would suggest. It’s a small play helmed by four actors and seeing them carry out all the logistics of the play (barring some of the tech like lighting) creates an atmosphere of intimacy and collusion which suits the two strands of the plot: compassionate Nell travelling the countryside and the conniving events going on in London.

There’s not a complaint to be found in the cast, and as usual I have to commend actors who are called upon to do more than just act on stage. You get your money’s worth for song, dance, puppetry, instrumentation, and the rest of it.

My sole caveat regards the source material but I will say that the production has taken a sensible line on adapting Dickens. The Old Curiosity Shop does not have the most cohesive of overarching narratives. The book is one that shows its origins in serialisation very clearly and this production circumnavigates a lot of the issues arising thereof. Nevertheless, events in London with Quilp and Kit never really connect to the Nell’s meandering with her grandfather except at the very start and very end. This staging wisely curtails some of the peripheral details, places the focus firmly on the episodic nature of events as Nell encounters more colourful characters on the road, and brushes past some of the contrivances of that flimsier larger plot. But attendees should go in expecting as much to get the most out of it.

All told, highly recommended for theatre-goers avoiding panto season.

★★★★☆    Fenton Coulthurst   6^th December 2018