A Bold, Brutal And Beautiful New Adaptation Of Oliver Twist

A brand new version of Charles Dickens' classic tale, Oliver Twist, comes to Birmingham Repertory Theatre Spring 2020.

Newly adapted by award-winning playwright Bryony Lavery (The Lovely Bones, Treasure Island and Frozen), the production will be directed by Amy Leach, Associate Director at Leeds Playhouse and is Ramps on the Moon Spring 2020 production following the huge success of previous shows, The Government Inspector, Our Country's Good and The Who's Tommy.

 

Now in its fourth year of seven, Ramps on the Moon is a consortium of seven major UK theatre, of which The REP is a key player, committed to putting D/deaf and Disabled artists and audiences at the centre of their work. Every performance of Oliver Twist will feature the use of integrated creative sign language, audio description and captioning.

Director Amy Leach said: “Having watched all of the previous Ramps on the Moon shows, I was excited to think about stories that felt highly theatrical and sensory – that would lend themselves to thrilling and bold visual and aural storytelling. Oliver Twist is a vivid, dark and visceral story and I am so excited to explore how adding artistic layers of creative sign language, audio description and captioning can enhance the story-telling for all audience members. Oliver Twist will give an integrated ensemble cast of D/deaf, disabled and non-disabled actors the opportunity to play a brilliantly varied range of characters and showcase a wide range of talents. I can't wait to share Bryony's very special adaptation with audiences around the country.”

Playwright Bryony Lavery said: “I've cleared my desk and I'm just about to bury myself in the country with the book of Oliver Twist, a fist full of wonderful old photographs of workhouses, and a notebook stuffed with all the brilliant ideas gleaned from the first Ramps on the Moon workshop. Led by Amy, attended by the theatre legend that is Jenny Sealey and a group of amazingly bendy, articulate, generous actors, the workshop has set me upon the road to rediscovering the text for this exciting, and daunting, writing task. I'm totally thrilled to be working with Leeds Playhouse and Ramps on the Moon on this unique project.”

Priority booking for members for Oliver Twist is now open with general booking opening on Monday 1 July 2019.