Bleak House dismissed in 30 seconds via a lone singer strumming a guitar, Dickens dueting with Mr Micawber: such conceits bare the unmistakable hallmark of the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Adam Long, founder member of that alternative RSC, whose The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) ran in the West End for an eyewatering nine years, is back as the writer/director of another show aiming to poke good-natured fun at a literary legend. I fear, however, that Dickens Unplugged may soon be going down the plughole.
Purists may have scoffed at Shakespeare (Abridged) but it was hard to deny its high-energy American-accented invention — the comedies reduced to a skit entitled Four Weddings and a Transvestite — and even higher laughs-per-minute count. In contrast, the similarly transatlantic-sounding Dickens feels unnecessarily effortful.
Perhaps conscious that Dickens’s oeuvre overall is not well enough known to sustain an entire show — an affectionate send-up of Barnaby Rudge, anyone? — Long has mingled the facts of the author’s life with the condensed narratives of his fiction. It’s an uneasy alliance with both parts appearing awkwardly undernourished. Fewer than 10 books are covered, two (Bleak House, Great Expectations) astonishingly quickly and another pair (David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol) at tedious length. Amusing as it is to have Tiny Tim rip it up on an electric guitar that doubles as a crutch, Carol is already a work that in itself teeters dangerously close to parody.
The USP is the music, with songs in a variety of styles. They are pleasant enough but utterly forgettable the second they finish, for all the hard-working cast of five’s strumming and tooting. A Tale of Two Cities — first line "Gosh it sucks being French and poor" — ends in a soft-rock duet, whereas Nicholas Nickleby comes over all Country and Western. As the actors are male, there are false boobs and dodgy wigs but these fail to raise the expected laughs. Nonetheless, I confidently predict that the RSC idea will return. The Brontës Unbound, maybe?
Booking to 21 Sept (0844 847 1545, www.dickensunplugged.com).
Dickens Unplugged
The Harold Pinter Theatre
Panton Street, SW1Y 4DN
