The villains are Bill Sikes (Aaron Sidwell) sadly without his dog , Mr Bumble the Beadle (Oscar Conlon-Morrey) who has a gorgeous ocean deep register and the Sowerberry Family of funeral undertakers.  As punishment after being picked on by Noah Claypole (Callum Hudson), Oliver is shut inside an empty coffin. Surely this is not the Noah who has brought that name to 21st century fashionable names for boys!  It is almost as popular as Oliver.                                                                                                 

Bourne’s production is as dark as Victorian London with the terrible outcomes for orphan children, courtesy Paule Constable’s atmospheric lighting.  As Oliver’s mother dies at the work house after giving birth, Oliver never knows her and the nearest he gets to a mother figure is with Nancy (Shanay Holmes who has a beautiful singing voice).  I often wonder why when he has grown up in the Workhouse until he is 10 years old, does Oliver have such a delicate speaking voice and excellent manners?  The Overture sees Agnes the pregnant woman giving birth alone outside the Workhouse gates and we hear a baby cry.