Oliver Twist re-imagined for family-friendly dance performance

The family-friendly show finishes its UK tour at the Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts from December 14 to 16.

The Brighton production, which has been co-commissioned by South East Dance and Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts, reimagines the lives of Dickens’ familiar characters, with Fagin’s childhood battle against poverty taking centre stage.

The cast, which is made up of eight members from Avant Garde Dance Company, tell the stories of Fagin, Nancy, the Artful Dodger, Bill Sykes, and Oliver.

Tony Adigun, the company’s artistic director, said: "I have always been excited by the idea of retelling a popular tale. I wanted to add a mischievous twist that would play with, and challenge audiences’ perspectives of a much-loved classic."

"When we were examining the characters, Fagin was the most interesting to me. He is portrayed as a villain, but I saw him as an underdog. I wanted to look at his past and see what parallels I could make between him and Oliver."

Adigun is also a champion for youth dance programmes and each stage of the national tour has featured young dancers from the local community.

For the Brighton leg, he has partnered with Brighton's leading street dance school Streetfunk.

Nine members from local hip-hop crew Unit 10 will join the cast to perform part of the show’s overture.

The performance will mark the first time that the group, which is made up of dancers from ages 14 to 18, will perform on stage at Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts.

"I don’t like ‘curtain raisers’ – you know when you have a group of young people at the beginning of the show and they do their thing and everyone claps and then the ‘real show’ begins? We’re all dancers. So I’ve created three moments in the show that are based around local participants learning the choreography beforehand then being on stage with the professionals", says Adigun.

Fagin’s Twist will be at Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts from December 14 to 16 .

Tickets, including family bundles and special offers, are available here.