Olive Copperbottom
Regent Theatre, Dunedin
Friday, December 15.
A near-capacity audience seated on the stage of the Regent Theatre on Friday evening thoroughly enjoyed Penny Ashton’s multifaceted one-woman show.
She romps with extraordinary energy, vocal fluidity and mental agility through snatches of Dickens’ gin-soaked and pox-riddled London.
There are a confusing number of characters, including Olive Copperbottom, Mrs Sourtart, Miss Fanny Purchase, Edward Goodsoul, Maximillian Moneybags, Ivana B. Castalot and Finneass, strutting between the Dick Inn, the Cock and Swallow and Nob End Echo in the twinkling of a wink.
Other theatrical asides revealed the show’s age when New Zealand’s current predicament, not least for the performance arts, escaped unscathed.
Conversely, its age is also the show’s strength.
Ashton’s craft is finely honed and exceptionally disciplined. Barely a line was missed and her stamina never waned. Her quick-fire and constant punning was a linguist’s liquor and her singing was always full-bodied.
The fight scene where Ashton delivers the punches while at the same time recoiling from them were excellent. Hats off too to Robbi Ellis’ cleverly arranged music and the several backstage volunteers who made it run like clockwork.
Yet something was lacking. Carrying the stage alone is no small feat. Ashton had to work the audience to get a laugh. Belly laughs were few and far between.
Her previous collaborative shows provided opportunities for actors to bounce off each other, exposing the risk and thrill of improvisation which is so reliant on quick thinking.
Nevertheless, everyone left Olive Copperbottom’s rags-to-riches Dickensian tale wearing broad smiles.
