If you saw the STNJ adaptation of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, you won’t want to miss this adaptation (by the same adaptor) of the classic Oliver Twist. Bring the kids!
Charles Dickens'
OLIVER TWIST
Adapted by Neil Bartlett
Directed by Brian B. Crowe
WHEN: September 12 - October 7; Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday and Opening Night at 7:30 PM; Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM; Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 PM
WHERE: Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, F.M. Kirby Theatre, Drew University campus, 36 Madison Avenue (at Lancaster Road), Madison
TICKETS: $32 to $70. Student rush tickets are available for $10
Order ticket packages or single tickets HERE or call the box office at 973.408.5600
Featuring an ensemble of 12 actors who play myriad roles (with the superb Ames Adamson as Fagin and Jeffrey M. Bender as Bill Sikes), this dynamic new vision of Dickens’ familiar classic will delight young and old. Filled with music and colorful characters, the visceral landscape of Victorian England's underworld comes to life in this exciting and theatrical adaptation.
For no more than the cost of a regular ticket, three Symposium Series performances are offered for each show and include a post-play discussion with the cast and artistic staff. Symposium performances for Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist will be Tuesday, September 18th at 7:30 PM, and Saturday, September 22nd and 29th at 2 PM.
For each production, The Shakespeare Theatre presents the popular education program Know the Show. From 7:00 to 7:30 PM, an artist from The Shakespeare Theatre will present a pre-performance talk that provides background information and an insider’s perspective on the production. The Know the Show performance will be held on Thursday, September 20th at 8:00 PM. General admission is $5 for the general public, $4 for ticket package holders and subscribers. Tickets to that evening’s 8:00 PM performance may be purchased separately.
The 2 PM performance on September 29th will be audio described for those who are blind or have visual impairments. Audio description enables patrons with visual impairments to hear, through an FM transmitter, a live description of the action on the stage. A pre-performance sensory seminar is offered that allows patrons to feel props, costumes and set pieces to further enhance their live theatrical experience. The service is offered free of charge.
In addition to writing Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist for the stage, award-winning writer Neil Bartlett has also adapted works by Marivaux and Moliere, as well as Dickens’ Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol. In all of his adaptations, Barlett only uses text from the original source material.
About Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, Bartlett wrote “the first decision taken was that the adaptation would be made out of Dickens’ original language and nothing but. Indeed, the extraordinary energy and volatility, the sadistic black comedy and sheer dramatic guts of Dickens’ actual sentences are the raisons d’etre of this piece. I wanted the show to be as alarming, compelling and as wickedly comic as Dickens’ words are.”
In the review of the premiere of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist in London, the Telegraph said, “Bartlett and his collaborators have rescued Oliver Twist from the sanitised (though enjoyable) Lionel Bart musical, and captured Dickens in all his dark, gaudy glory. A great novel has been transformed into truly stunning theatre.”
