There are problems with adaptations of Dickens which are hard to surmount. His novels were published serially so their structure leads to repeated cliffhanger endings as one chapter finishes and Dickens contrives to have his readers buy the next part. This does not align with the classic three-act structure of a play.
Then there is the problem that the glory of Dickens is in his descriptions and his characterisation. In plays description goes by the way of painted scenery or props and characterisation is considerably reliant on the actors.
What is left is the plot which, unfortunately, is not Dickens’ forte. Whenever the story looks like running out of steam, someone comes in with a letter to revitalise the situation.
Given that A Tale of Two Cities, his French Revolution book, hangs on letters delivered or secreted, Liz Love does a good job of rendering down a very twisty story into this stage adaptation.
The story hangs on the family drama of the Marquis, a melodrama villain aristocrat with no redeeming features, and his nephew Charles Darney who is all nobility, played with grace and subtlety by Aryan Chavda.
Between these two is Sydney Carton, who is a fatally flawed man, an alcoholic, but also a brilliant lawyer, who finds his redemption in sacrifice. Carton is played by Reece Lewis who takes the part to another level by presenting it in the style of a Victorian actor expressing Shakespeare with extravagant hand gestures and vocalisation, leaping from one part of the stage to another, as if in an attempt to alarm his fellow actors.
The play points up one of the main themes of the story: of how people behave when tested to destruction by an upheaval such as the French Revolution. Notably this is seen in the progress of the citizen of France Madame Defarge played by Caroline Edwards, a sympathetic character whose heart burns with anger at injustice, knitting away in the corner of the stage. Over the course of the action she moves to the centre where she has changed into a ferocious termagant with a meat cleaver, eager to kill anyone for deeds done, deeds suspected or even for association with anyone accused of disloyalty to the republic in what was known as The Terror.
All in all, this is an absorbing presentation of a classic, if less than overwhelming.
Playwright: Liz Love adaptation of Charles Dickens
Cast: Reece Lewis, Aryan Chavda, Joe Childs, Caroline Edwards, Nikki Claire Durrant, Vince Mathews, Liv O’Connor
Duration: 95 minutes
Until: 23 May 2026