Page 80 - Bellfort Magazine 2019

Together they teach Oliver all they
Mr Bumble is incensed when Oliver know about pick-pocketing before
does the unthinkable and asks for sending him out with the gang – ‘You
‘more’, so he decides to sell him to the can go, but be back soon!’
highest bidder. Eventually he is ap-
prenticed to the undertakers Mr & Mrs
Act 2—As Long As He Needs Me
Sowerberry.
On the street, things go drastically
Mr Sowerberry is a shrewd operator
wrong and Oliver is falsely accused of
a theft he didn’t commit and arrested.
He is subsequently rescued by a kind
and wealthy gentleman, Mr Brownlow
Oliver! who is forgiving and wants to help
Charles Dickens’ novel, ‘Oliver Twist’ Oliver, and in time sees an uncanny
was bought to life by Lionel Bart who resemblance to his daughter who ran
adapted the classic tale into a theatre away from home many years ago. He is
masterpiece in 1960. helped by his trusted housekeeper,
Mrs Bedwin, and the rather quaint Dr
The story follows young, orphaned
Grimwig to the dismay of Fagin’s vio-
Oliver Twist as he navigates the Lon-
lent sidekick, Bill Sykes.
don underworld of theft and violence,
searching for a home, a family, and - Meanwhile, back in the den, Fagin and
most importantly - for love. With spirit- except when he is hen-pecked by his the other crooks greet the news with
ed, timeless songs like “As Long as He rather domineering wife. Oliver is sub- dismay. Bill Sykes gets angry and anx-
Needs Me,” “Food, Glorious Food,” ject to such teasing in the Funeral Par- ious that Oliver may reveal all about
and “Where is Love,” Oliver! is a musi- lour by Charlotte their maid, and her the den and have them all arrested.
cal classic. suitor Noah Claypole, that he reacts While the gang prepare for a quick get
badly, but later escapes amidst a flurry a way, Bill insists Nancy goes to find
him.
of drama, to London’s streets.
Nancy is very conflicted by her love

Act 1—Boy For Sale
When Oliver’s Mother dies in childbirth
after arriving at the workhouse, Oliver
is reared in loneliness and poverty with

the other urchins, living on gruel, and
subject to the rules and routines im- When Oliver is befriended on the
posed by the Beadle, Mr Bumble and street by a boy named the Artful Dodg- and devotion to Bill and her awareness
er, he is welcomed into a gang of child of what is right. However, she locates
his able assistant, Widow Corney.
pickpockets led by the conniving, but Oliver when he is running an errand for
Scenes between this pair provide com-
ical interludes to the main plot as their charismatic, Fagin. In return for what Mr Brownlow and takes him back to
attraction leads to his proposal of mar- they bring home to Fagin he provides the den where he is interrogated and
riage! hot sausages, a warm drink and a the whole gang prepares to relocate.
warm place to stay. Nancy and Bet are Almost immediately, Nancy regrets her
two girls who grew up in Fagin’s world decision – and the drama builds to its
and bring a motherly affection to the shocking climax when she tries to re-
den. Nancy is the love of Bill Sykes – turn Oliver to the safety of Mr Brown-
who sadly turns out to be rather more low.
sinister than Fagin or Dodger! As for Fagan and Dodger, they
conclude by ‘Reviewing the Situation’,
and decide to live a decent and honest
80 life...or do they?