For example, the storyline tells about Jasper’s double-personality traits and his opium-smoking habits, as well as the growing clash of personalities between Landless and Drood.Īs the pressure mounts, the engagement between Rosa Bud and Drood is broken around Christmas time. Also, additional clues and variables that can help solve the mystery are revealed by the main narrator of the story, the “Chairman” (Jack Rigg), throughout the play. The subtle struggle for the love of Rosa Bud between Jasper, Landless and Drood becomes more and more tense as the story develops. Drood’s relationship with Rosa Bud awakens the jealousy of other men, such Drood’s uncle -and Rosa’s singing teacher-, choirmaster John Jasper (Alex McMorran), as well as Neville Landless (Alfonso Banzon), a new immigrant from Ceylon and protegé of the highly-respected local priest, Reverend Crisparkle (Mike Wild). This multi-awarded musical has been brought in the past to some of the most important stages in the world, including Broadway and London, earning it several Tony awards and Drama Desk Awards for its originality and perfect execution.Īs the title suggests, the story evolves around the mysterious disappearance of Edwin Drood (Sarah Wolfman-Robichaud), a young English man of the 19th Century engaged to the beautiful Rosa Bud (Jennifer Doan). It was probably too much to ask for another epic Bleak House or Little Dorrit-style adaptation, which sustained mystery over weeks and gave Dickens's capacious imagination full rein, but this slimline Drood served well.Inspired by the homonymous (and unfinished) novel by Charles Dickens, Fighting Chance Productions brings to Vancouver this masterful and quite unique rendition by playwright Rupert Holmes. From a televisual perspective, this worked well, adding a dramatic irony which will induce the viewer to return tonight. Dickens intended Drood's uncle, John Jasper (Matthew Rhys, pictured right), to be unveiled as the murderer at the end of the book, even if he never got round to writing it, but this adaptation not only made it clear that Edwin was murdered - in the book he disappears - but it showed Jasper killing him. There was one clever twist last night - or at least a diversion from the book - which worked well. This Edwin Drood is more interested, distressingly, in atmosphere than taking these themes anywhere. The questions Dickens asks can only be touched on in two hours of TV time, but they are nonetheless there: the (im)morality of the British Empire, as represented by Neville and Helena Landless, the suitably named orphans from Ceylon the problem of drug addiction in the 19th century the rights of women vocalised through Rosa Bud's willed marriage to Drood (pictured above: Tamzin Merchant as Rosa, Freddie Fox as Edwin). If the profusion of Dickensian derivatives has reminded us of one thing, it is the unresting brilliance which shines through even the wannest adaptation. That is, of course, the last word that could be applied to Dickens himself. The questions Dickens asks are only touched on in two hours of TV time, but they are nonetheless there Dickens without mystery would be like, well, BBC drama without Dickens, but the identical complexion of each is uninspiring. The problem, perhaps, was that it had exactly the same air of mystery, created through set dressing and lighting, as every adaptation of Dickens in recent years, as if their scriptwriters and directors agreed terms at a conference. You'll have to tune in tonight for that, but there was a sufficient air of mystery to intrigue the viewer - opium-fed dreams, surprising visitors from Ceylon, a visit to the crypt. Last night came The Mystery of Edwin Drood, about which the biggest mystery was what sort of ending would be given by Gwyneth Hughes to Dickens's final, unfinished novel. We had the overly mannered Miss Havisham and Burberry scowls of a new Great Expectations on BBC One and an ever-so-mysterious and oddly adapted Tale of Two Cities on Radio 4 (I like to believe they wear costumes in the studio).
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