An orphaned baby, born in a workhouse, is collected up by a parish beadle and a malevolent matron. Later, when the small and hungry boy challenges their authority by daring to ask for more gruel, the pair quickly sell him off to a malicious undertaker and his officious wife. However, the young Oliver Twist chooses, instead, to run away from his new employers, rather than stay and suffer their abuse. Alone on the road to London, Oliver is befriended by the Artful Dodger – a natural storyteller – who promises the lad a safe haven, where he himself resides. Little does Oliver suspect that he is entering a lair where mischief and thievery are common practises, encouraged by none other than Fagin – a notorious keeper of stolen goods. When Oliver is threatened by the brutal fiend, Bill Sikes, the latter’s girlfriend, Nancy, attempts to restore the innocent boy to his rightful family. Little is known about Oliver’s true identity, but when it comes to light who he really is, the child’s worth renders him a valuable commodity. Lives are threatened as the story builds to a climactic finale, where ‘evil’ attempts to reign supreme over ‘good’. Playwright Neil Bartlett’s boisterous and vibrant melodrama is a thrilling adaptation of one of Charles Dickens’ greatest novels.