Review: UNEXPECTED TWIST, Norwich Theatre Royal - Tour

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Unexpected Twist is a modern day retelling of Oliver Twist, combining with the classic Dickens novel to place its themes at the centre of the performance, and demonstrating the synergies which echo across our society as a whole.

Produced by the Children’s Theatre Partnership, the story follows our lead character Shona who, upon starting at a new school, whilst studying Oliver Twist, finds herself exploring how areas of her own life have relevance with the title character and Shona’s present-day life. Having lost her mother and with a father struggling to make ends meet, this inevitably led to Shona falling in with a bad crowd in an attempt to escape a life of poverty, facing difficult moral dilemmas along the way.

Aiming to bring a literary classic to a younger audience, the company have adopted elements to entice the crowd; all of the music is either sung or beat boxed by all of the performers on-stage, which definitely gives a different edge to the performance, and it’s clear there is some real talent within the company.

The songs themselves are certainly aimed at a younger demographic, with technology and the reliance we now place on mobile devices, being central to the plot and songs. The lyrics at times appear conflictingly childish in place of the more hard-hitting topics of the performance, more so within the first half when the performance feels a little lacking in direction.

What does also suspend believability at times is the language of the ‘classmates’ which, rather than seeming natural, appears somewhat forced and stereotypical. Where the subject matters are of interest, the language used is occasionally off-putting to integral plot points or areas of focus.

The second half feels much sharper in both delivery and plot, with Shona having been coerced by the wrong crowd into the world of drugs and its ramifications to her and those around her – this focuses the performances as it feels much more purposeful and makes the performances increasingly enjoyable to watch.

It has to be said that the Drew Hylton in the role of Shona/Oliver delivers exceptional vocals. There is an especially touching moment in the second half when Drew and Thomas Vernal (Shona’s dad) give outstanding vocal performances.

The company, as a whole, are full of the energy and enthusiasm of the age groups they are playing and with a smaller company, you have the opportunity to see the strengths of the individual performers on offer.

We can see what this production is trying to achieve, drawing on the notion that there hasn’t been much change in the landscape, from 19th century poverty to its modern-day equivalents and the challenges faced by our modern society. However, there are a couple of areas where this falls slightly short.

*** Three stars

Reviewed by: Lauren Farley

Unexpected Twist runs at Norwich Theatre until 1 April and continues touring until June 2023. For more information, please click here.