National Theatre, London Tide Review ★★★★★

It must have seemed a good idea. Dickens’s last novel, Our Mutual Friend, tells the stories of a large cast of London characters whose lives, sharply contrasting in circumstance and social standing, are inextricably linked to the river that cuts a gash through the city, the Thames – lives which have uncomfortable parallels with those of the inhabitants of modern day London.

Why not, then, transition the play from page to the stage housed closest to the Thames in the National Theatre? Engage the services of the hugely experienced playwright and NT Associate Ben Powers (The Lehman Trilogy) and the singer-songwriter P J Harvey, and Our Mutual Friend becomes London Tide.

Sadly, in the process the work has lost the compelling vigour of Dickens’s own page-turning narrative and became an overlong, flaccid play, whose many characters never really transcend their function as mere carriers of Dickens’s acute social observations and preoccupations.

A dead body fished out of the Thames by Gaffer Hexman (Jake Wood), who ekes out a living by scavenging on the river, kicks off the action. The murdered man is presumed to be John Harmon, returned home to inherit his deceased father’s fortune and marry a woman he’s never met, Bella Wilfer (Bella Maclean).

Liam Prince-Donnelly (Ensemble) and Bella Maclean (Bella Wilfer) in London Tide at the NT © Marc Brenner

Like a series of concentric waves, the effects of this find will be felt by many people: Hexman himself, falsely accused of murder, and his children, Charley (Brendon Grace) determined to improve his life through education, and the strong-headed Lizzie (Ami Tredrea), whose condition as a poor woman leads her to focus all her ambitions on her brother; the barely managing Wilfer family; Noddy Boffin (Peter Wight) formerly Harmon senior’s servant, who, in the absence of any other heirs, inherits his master’s fortune. Other characters – a mysterious young man, two lawyers, a sinister schoolmaster, a pub landlady – will play defining roles in their destinies.

Scott Karim (Bradley Headstone) and the London Tide cast at the NT © Marc Brenner
Structurally London Tide is uneven. The comatose first part introduces its cast of characters through short scenes where at times they break away from the action to address the audience directly. A great (but predictable) reveal at the end of Act I sets the scene for a frantic Act II, where the plot resolutions come thick and fast, baddies get their comeuppance – here, too, the river plays a crucial part – and love is rewarded.

The decision to include P J Harvey’s songs, played live by an on-stage trio, is baffling, as not only do they add nothing to the play – no plot development, no psychological insights – but they hold up the action adding to the play's unmanageable length

On the plus side, and there is much to admire, the cast, skilfully directed by Ian Rickson (Translations, The Day I Stood Still) are uniformly excellent; and Bunny Christie’s sparse, versatile monochrome set combines with Jack Knowles’s intelligent, fluid lighting to create a moody atmosphere that reflects the murky river’s tides, as a subtle metaphor for the ebb and flow of the characters’ own lives.