A trip to Theatre Alibi's Curiosity Shop is a mesmerising voyage of discovery
Leaving the Exeter Northcott with your mouth open after seeing a Theatre Alibi production is starting to become a regular occurrence. Curiosity Shop, which had its premiere tonight is the latest in a line of jaw-dropping productions by Exeter’s own Theatre Alibi.
A modern-day adaptation of the Dickens novel, the show blends photography, music, film and Theatre Alibi’s signature immersive performances and the end result is an utter triumph.
Directed by Nikki Sved, this is a very different style of performance from their last show here, The Crowstarver, which was quite restrained visually - but the clever projections, and other plot devices, such as on-screen text messages, are an integral part of the show, perfectly judged and don’t distract from the acting.
Derek Frood is a mesmerising Quilp - utterly unlikeable, totally unreconstructed and with no redeeming features at all - while Malcolm Hamilton, whose Spider in The Crowstarver has lived long in the memory, turns in an extraordinary performance as Dick E Swiveller. Sarah Kameela Impey, meanwhile, is excellent as Nell, although it is her performance as the Marchioness which is a real scene-stealer (and her duet with Hamilton is the show-stealer).
The Curiosity Shop of the title is now a record shop selling vinyl - which seems almost as out of its time as the Old Curiosity Shop imagined by Dickens 170 years ago. The writer, Daniel Jamieson, says that some radical treatment of the story was called for - even though the central themes of addiction, homelessness and sexual predators resonate as much today as they did in Victorian times.
Even if you are familiar with the original, this adaptation is inventive enough to keep you enthralled until the end - even if the ending doesn’t stray too far from that written by Dickens.
The music is excellent and well-chosen - almost painful in places - while the programme is cleverly designed to look like a record sleeve, beautifully nostalgic for those of us in the audience who remember vinyl.
The show runs until 16 March - if you haven’t already got a ticket, book now. And don’t scrape your lower jaw on the way out.
