London Tide

(seen at the afternoon performance on 4th May 2024)

If London is “our mutual friend” then the monkey and Dickens have it in common. Uncovering its corners, talking about its inequalities, endlessly agreeing on a fascinatingly inexhaustible subject.

“Our Mutual Friend” was Dickens's final work, tackling education and opportunity, mixed with a diatribe about misrepresentation of the poorest in the system and a couple of decent romances.

Originally expecting a musical, this turned out as a “play with music,” featuring 13 PJ Harvey songs used more as interludes and background scene setters than to drive the story. 

A couple are charming, the opening “London Song” and “Evening,” the rest seem a pleasant distraction. Irritatingly, the lyric was not always audible in the front rows - but the on-stage band under Ian Ross worked hard to produce a rich soundscape.

Ben Power wisely chooses to eliminate a number of characters in the source material to focus mostly on three families moving up and down the social scale. He retains some lyrical passages from the original and it is notable how beautifully they flow when spoken.

The problem is they also slow taking the action forward. While Power manages to keep the usual close-weaving of Dickens intelligible, he rather forces director Ian Rickson to leave space for these expositions.

Rickson sensibly counterbalances by having his cast walk around a lot in the vast empty space created by Bunny Christie. The perfection of the simple Thames pier pylons augmented with the odd table is more than sufficient, with the satanic pit downstage, to take us through many London districts and even out to Oxfordshire – the cast attired suitably for class and location every time.

It is the setting, staging and universally excellent cast which win out over the lengthy script.

Most striking are lawyers Wrayburn and Lightwood (Jamael Westman and Rufus Wright), the former eager and wanting change, his mentor conservative yet truthful.

The struggling yet proud Wilfers, confused patriarch (yes, Dickens did the stereotype too, apparently) of Reg (Stephen Kennedy), hopeful wife Mary (Penny Layden) and squabbling yet devoted daughters Bella and Lavinia (Bella Maclean and Beth Alsbury) create a family using well-studied ensemble stagecraft to carry family values through generations in every interaction between themselves and the wider world. 

At the other end of the social scale, Gaffer Hexam and children Lizzie and Charley are an equally bonded family. Jake Wood demonstrates Gaffer's tough life while passing his common sense to the next generation. Ami Tredrea takes Lizzie on the longest journey emotionally and geographically, moving the audience emotionally a similar distance.

Brandon Grace’s impressive early scene admiring books in a law office marks the start of a similarly strong performance across a wide story arc.

Further down the social scale, dolls’ dressmaker Jenny Wren is also brought to perfect life in a memorable theatre debut by Elli-May Sheridan. 

With a note for Tom Mothersdale’s John Rokesmith and Peter Wright as a wonderfully Dickensian-typical affable worker Noddy Boffin, the work on display is faultless.

Just as “The Witches” last Christmas at the National Theatre had more potential than actually delivered, demanding further work and a revival to polish it and grant a future life, so “London Tide” is likewise. 

Hopefully a revision will be made, and in the meantime as a demonstration of how to handle a vast and rambling story with aplomb, this is a surprisingly and entertainingly satisfying.