Oliver Twist, a Class 10 Play

Class 10 chose one of our national favourite stories – Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens – for their end-of-year play. This hugely dramatic and occasionally humorous tale is set in the London of the early 19th century and has a large cast of bigger than life-size characters which this equally large class really got their teeth into: a gang of pick-pockets including the Artful Dodger, the violent Bill Sikes and other petty criminals working for Fagin, the gang leader. There is the greedy plotting Monks and the blindingly unjust but impressively bewigged judge. But then there is Nancy, the warm- hearted fallen woman in the clutches of the gang, and the kindly Mr Brownlow who helps save the day. At the centre is the hungry orphan Oliver.

The many excellent themes in this classic tale will have raised real-life questions for the actors – violence and poverty, authority and the justice system, loyalty, kindness and forgiveness and, of course, the quest for identity. It was wonderful to see our young people getting thoroughly into these extraordinary roles (there was even a strangely convincing hanging in Keir Hall!) – also wonderful to see the foreign students – and there are at least 5 in this class – taking on quite challenging roles. Well done Wing and a Prayer Productions 2022!

Christine Polyblank