TWISTED by Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman and Joseph Jomo Pierre (Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst). Runs to February 22, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, matinee Sunday 2 pm. $23-$45, some Sunday pwyc. 416-504-9971, factorytheatre.ca. Rating: NNN
When Oliver and Nancy meet in Twisted, they embark on the best of times and the worst of times.
If youre reminded of Charles Dickens when you read that line, thats exactly what playwrights Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman and Joseph Jomo Pierre intend. Twisted is a modern-day version of Oliver Twist set in Toronto, with Oliver (or Ollie, played by Ngabo Nabea) a street teen working as a low-level soldier for pimp and dealer Sykes and Nancy (Susanna Fournier) one of Sykes online strippers who also helps him procure young girls.
The two speak differently, Nancys caustic lines a contrast to Olivers sometimes rhyming street poetry.
This is a tale that wraps (as well as raps) around itself, the ending contained in the beginning as Oliver first talks about Nancy and she watches him from above, on a set by Denyse Karn that shows us a birds-eye view of Toronto. We learn their histories: he went from orphanage to foster home to street, she left her small town to find excitement and freedom in a big city that delivered neither.
These two outsiders mostly address us rather than each other the communication between them is largely limited to text messaging on their cells, except for the vivid, thrilling five minutes when they first meet in person. Then suddenly the cityscape dissolves into a star-filled sky as this Romeo and Juliet burn into each others souls.
Cells allow them intimacy they cant sustain face to face, and we both read and sometimes hear them speak their texts as Nancy decides she has to turn against Sykes and escape with Oliver.
The contrasted writing styles capture the characters well, the script also including a few familiar lines from Dickenss novel and the Lionel Bart musical. Fournier offers bravado, a hint of fear and a touch of comedy as the intense, sarcastic Nancy, who avoids pity and sorrow as she sends up society as well as herself. Nabea is still getting into Olivers textual rhythms sometimes the lines flow smoothly, at others theres an unintentionally rough tempo to his speeches.
Director Nigel Shawn Williams paces the show well, giving precision and magic to the pairs initial encounter and increasing the tension as they plot their escape. The focus here is on the older and more savvy Nancy, seeking, as her world closes in, maps to real and fantasy lands where she and Oliver might be free.
In that last section, Karns set presents a few surprises, as do Simeon Taoles projections, which offer more than the text messages that define and shape the pairs relationship.
