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A Tale of Two Cities poster

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The judge looking stern in a cartoony way

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (adapted by Micky O'Donoughue & David Joss Buckley) - M. Defarge

- The New Vic Theatre of London. Directed by Alan Cohen.

Another New Vic Theatre of London adaptation, giving a surreally comedic twist to a classic story. This time it was Charles Dickens getting it in the neck from the O'Donoughue antics as he gleefully threw himself into playing both the ill-starred hero Sidney Carton and the evil Marquis Evrémonde. Chris Barnes was a wonderfully eccentric Doctor Manette (his first entrance, being carried in upside down in a sedan chair, was a standout!) and the rest of the mixed British and American cast did sterling work in bringing the rest of the novel's characters to life.

The core of the New Vic's style - developed originally by Michael Bogdanov with the original production of 'Canterbury Tales' and refined over the years by Micky O'Donoughue and the regular New Vic cast - is to take the wrapping story reasonably seriously but to allow the characters, especially the central character, usually played by Micky O'Donoughue himself, free licence to subvert the ongoing plot with various irreverent and uproarious characterisations. There is much audience participation, an air of anarchy and a general sense of circus (though actually many of the apparent ad libs, dries, fluffs, corpsing and spontaneity are very carefully rehearsed for maximum audience effect). This is a wonderful opportunity for the actors to make the most of the smaller roles they might be asked to play. My set-piece in this production was the judge at Carton's trial, a bleating, querulous grotesque who managed that most difficult of feats - making Micky laugh!

There was less opportunity for bizarre charicature in my main role of the revolutionary leader Defarge (though I did manage to subtly change one of my lines one night to deliver the ominous warning, "Shush! There's someone coming noisily up my back passage", much to the barely stifled hilarity of my fellow cast members!). I did have the consolation though of sharing many of my scenes with the lovely Suzanne Bertish, playing Madame Defarge.

This production toured the UK to full houses and generally good reviews. It managed the successful mix of respect for the original source material with the anarchic comedy that is the New Vic's trademark. This extended to the climax of the show where, true to the book, Sidney Carton heroically went to his death on the guillotine in place of Darnay. This was treated with great seriousness, even Micky managing to give Carton a quiet dignity in his final moments, and was a genuinely sonbre and moving moment after all the romping.

Defarge playing a snare drum in front of a tricolour