Actor, comedian and writer Steve Furst brings his Fagin to Hastings

Actor, comedian and writer Steve Furst brings his brand-new show Fagin – Hero or Villain to The Stables Theatre in Hastings on Wednesday, June 3 – a first time at the venue for Steve in a town he loves.

“I lived in Hastings for six years from 2004. I've seen The Stables blossom and turn into a wider-programming facility than it used to be. I really regard Hastings as my second home and some of my best friends are down there. I adore the place. It's a really important place to me.”

As for the show, Steve describes it as part detective story, part love letter, part provocation.

Steve inhabits a gallery of characters across two halves –Fagin himself, of course, but also the real man who inspired him, the artists who shaped him and the people who challenged everything we thought we knew.

The first half traces Fagin from page to stage: the 276 times Dickens wrote “the Jew” instead of his name. The real-life Ikey Solomon – fence, fugitive, escapee – whose extraordinary story Dickens borrowed and never credited.

The second half belongs to the musical – Lionel Bart's East End genius, the transformation of villain into something audiences couldn't help but love, and why Oliver! changed the question entirely.

“I was Fagin three Christmases ago, 2023-2024. It was in Leeds and we had the most extraordinary reception to the show. It was completely in the round and it was 1,000 seats and it was the best reviewed Oliver! maybe ever but we knew that it wouldn't go anywhere because Cameron was bringing his new version into the West End.

“But at the same time I didn't want it to be the last time that I played Fagin. I realised I had to do something about it. I've written shows before so I decided to write this one. I've done multi-character shows before and I thought this would be a great subject with the first half about the book and the second half about the musical.

“I think the musical is incredibly important, and the character of Fagin is right at the heart of the story. He is a lovable rogue and everybody loves a lovable rogue. But there is a lot of contradiction in him, and that’s what makes him interesting – and he's got two fantastic songs and bits of other songs.”

Important too is the fact that he is Jewish: “As we all know there is a huge amount of shouting and polarisation going on at the moment. It's good to have this nuanced character. There's a lot of talk about there being anti-Semitism in the book and it could be argued that it was anti-Semitic but at the same time you could say that Dickens was probably a product of his time and that he did actually have an incredible social conscience. When it was pointed out to him that calling the character “the Jew” more than 275 times in the book might be seen as being a bit anti-Semitic, he then changed that in the reprint of the book and brought it down by 180 counts. But you could also point out that he did need it pointing out to him!”

But Fagin is certainly a fascinating character: “Fagin speaks a different language. Fagin says that he is equipping the boys to go out and steal and not get caught but he looks after them. A lot of people would say that he is grooming them for a life of crime but equally you could argue that anybody in Fagin’s gang was enjoying a much better option for longevity and for being looked after than being left in the workhouse.

“I think he's lovable. I think there is a love and a warmth, and he is fun. He's a teacher and he is a performer and he is a rogue but I think he's the kind of guy that if he nicked something out of your pocket and you challenged him, he would say ‘Oh! Sorry! I didn't realise!’ I think he's got a moral compass but it's a slightly twisted moral compass!”