Review: David Copperfield (Jermyn Street Theatre)

Review by Seth Wilby

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Three actors, nineteen characters and one Dickensian tale. That’s the feat attempted by Jermyn Street Theatre’s new production of Charles Dickens’ classic coming-of-age story, David Copperfield. With rapidly paced scenes, numerous love interests, and many, many different hats, could this ambitious production be a timeless tale or would its potential be left lost at sea?

Reuniting the team from last year’s successful run of Pride and Prejudice, writer Abigail Pickard Price now returns to the 19th Century to adapt Charles Dicken’s David Copperfield, following decades from the fictional life of the eponymous protagonist. Faced with peculiar family members, city-spanning conflicts, and an abnormal amount of death, David’s story has us follow him from his birth to his rise to happiness, and the tribulations he faces along the way.

Price’s adaptation sticks fairly loyally to the thrust of the source material, presenting a stripped back version that manages to depict the narrative arc faithfully, despite removing some of the Dickensian nuance. Her writing strikes a balance between modern day conversation and 19th century prose, selling it as a classic story reworked for now, but the task of cramming a nearly-1000-page book into a two and a half hour play does lead to some pacing issues. This is particularly evident in the first act, when so many characters are introduced through numerous scenes seemingly lacking in clear purpose, that it remains too close to exposition throughout, causing the interval to come without just cause, following an hour of very little drama whatsoever. Some of these restrictions are, of course, imposed by the source material, but a willingness to show some more flexibility in the adaptation could have helped the play to stand strongly on its own.

That said, the completion of the story in the second act does show character arcs more clearly, with each of the many roles feeling distinct from another both in language and in disposition. The one unfortunate exception to this is David Copperfield himself, whose own development (despite being performed well by a subtly charming Eddy Payne, who narrates the show with a controlling yet reassuring ease) is underexplored. By the end of the play, Copperfield has evolved from a struggling orphan to a genuinely happy author, yet we barely get to see this growth at all. At its core, this characterisation of David feels like a vehicle for the story to happen around, as opposed to being at the centre of the story himself- the sweet yet naive young boy we meet at the beginning is barely distinguishable from the much older, supposedly changed man in the final scenes.

The other, more eccentric characters are those who stand out the most, and that is mainly due to some incredibly transformative multirolling from Luke Barton and Louise Beresford, which impressively carries the main weight of the show. Taking on the roles of David’s love interests, friends and, most distinctively, aunt, Beresford is unrecognisable each time she enters the stage, through changed subtleties in accent and movement, and she hits every comic beat flawlessly to create easily distinguishable characters and the attitudes that accompany them. 

With an even more ambitious scope in roles, Luke Barton proves himself to be a master at multirolling. A brilliant comedic actor, Barton knows exactly when to ham up his performances, yet displays no shortage of heart when the script demands. Holding the audience’s gaze throughout, Barton has the abilities of a shapeshifter as he switches from wacky to dominating to heartfelt without missing a single beat, and one extremely passionate monologue in act two was a stand-out of the whole show. 

Also directing the show, Price lends a creative eye to the format, crafting a polished and inventive show with several imaginative ways to keep each characterisation engaging. These include the ingenious use of an intimidating puppet to portray David’s abusive stepfather, with this faceless figure fear-inducing in its very nature. Through some clever use of props and, near the end of act one, an audience-pleasing dance number, the staging feels dynamic and fresh, with depth offered by the use of perspective against Anett Black’s triumphantly simple set.

The creativity in the staging, however, can only do so much for the storytelling, and the writing does not seem to have the same inspired touch. When presenting such a classic in the modern day, productions need to choose a distinct tonal path to follow (see recent theatrical interpretations of Austen, or Conan Doyle, for example), with most normally resorting to a comedic spoof or 21st century update. What this play struggles from is the inability to commit to any of these intentions, and, as a result, it never fully engages. They have created for themselves the clear differentiator of multirolling but are unwilling to use it to its full potential- there is one scene in act two that understands the comedic prospects, seeing the actors try to portray multiple characters within one conversation, but the exuberant response to this simply exposes the lack of utilisation elsewhere.

David Copperfield makes for a fine festive offering. Sure, it doesn’t have the same spirit as that other Dickens show you can see at Christmas, but it is a tale imbued with potential. This production brings some imaginative staging and a terrifically strong cast of three, who are worth every penny of the ticket price, but it leaves heaps of unexplored potential, particularly in the comedic possibilities. Ultimately, it’s a good adaptation which I did enjoy, but it was missing that certain something to make it truly special.

David Copperfield plays at Jermyn Street Theatre until 20th December. Tickets from https://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/show/david-copperfield/

Photos by Steve Gregson