Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist - KS3/4

Resources
• Leader and six readers to play Oliver, the Artful Dodger, Mr Brownlow, Fagin, Bill Sykes and Nancy.
• Music suggestion: Download some of the music from one of the many film productions of the story. The song ‘Where is love?' could be played at the end
• PowerPoint presentation provided (PP)

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Engagement

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Reader 1 (Oliver): Please sir, I want some more!

Leader: This is not the opening line of Charles Dickens' second, and possibly most well known, novel. This is the beginning of the musical made by Lionel Bart in 1968. Since then, the musical has rarely left the stage, recently returning following a BBC competition searching for a new star to play Nancy. Let's remind ourselves of the basic plot.

Reader 2 (Artful Dodger): Hey you!

Reader 1: Who, me?

Reader 2: Yes, you. You got somewhere to stay tonight? I could take you back with me - no rent, no dues - just free food and shelter...

Reader 1: How is the food paid for?

Reader 2: Oh, we make things - wallets and handkerchiefs mostly...

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Reader 2: Here you are Fagin, nice young lad I found in the street. He ain't got nowhere to stay you see, so I invited him to come and try your ‘ospitality.

Reader 3 (Fagin): Right, Dodger, very kind I'm sure. What's your name then, sonny?

Reader 1: Oliver, sir. Oliver Twist.

Reader 3: So, Oliver, you just go in there and see what you can find...

Reader 1: But Fagin, that would be burglary!

Reader 3: Nah, just curiosity Oliver.

Reader 4 (Mr Brownlow): Stop thief!

Reader 1: I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to rob you!

Reader 5 (Bill Sykes): So Fagin, where's the boy now?

Reader 3: Well Bill, he seems to be lodging in the home of the gentleman we asked him to rob!

Reader 6 (Nancy): He won't snitch on us Bill, honest he won't.

Reader 5: I ain't giving him the chance, Nancy. Fagin, we got to get him back or we're swinging.

Reflection

Leader: The musical and the film leave out much of the story, which involves many characters and is actually pretty complicated. The key to the plot is that Oliver's mother died in childbirth - a common event in 1838. She had already been deserted by Oliver's father, so was living in the workhouse, the place where destitute people went; horrible places where the poor were constantly reminded that they were living on other people's charity. Oliver was 'farmed out' to a professional child carer until he was old enough to join the children's workhouse, and this is where he asked for more.

As a result, Oliver was apprenticed to a local blacksmith, but ended up running away. So he finds himself in London and is ‘rescued' by the Artful Dodger, a pickpocket working for Fagin. Fagin is tied up with Bill Sykes, a truly horrendous figure, who has a relationship with Nancy. He is always accompanied by his pit bull terrier called Bullseye.

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Oliver eventually finds a home with one of the people he is sent to rob, Mr Brownlow, but because Bill Sykes is worried Oliver will talk to the police, they attempt to kidnap him back. To cut a long, complicated story short, Fagin, Dodger and Sykes all get their just deserts, Sykes in a particularly unpleasant way, after he murders Nancy. Oliver finds a happy home, and all's well. But you'll need to read the book to get all Dickens' glorious details and characters. And although Dickens can seem hard work, his novels are truly rewarding.

Critically, the story is about children who have no loving home, who form a gang, and end up committing criminal acts. It's about people turning to crime, and the way that crime can spiral out of control, and that there can sometimes be no escape from the group that you find yourself living with and working with.

Response

Leader: Oliver Twist can sometimes seem melodramatic and ‘over the top'. Certainly Dickens doesn't pull any punches. Some of the more gruesome elements were taken out in the films and the musical, but the 1948 film captures the horror of Nancy's death at the hands of Bill Sykes, which is rather brutal - perhaps more so to read than if it had been committed to screen or stage. The book reflects the awful circumstances that many young children and their families lived in during those times, and which Dickens brought to public consciousness. Since then, the laws have been changed, and now we live in a society where the well being of children is held high, and care for children is held to be a priority for all.

But some of the elements of the story are still with us. Men still beat women. Many children in this country still live in poverty and are sometimes abused. Young people may be drawn into violent gangs. People envy those who appear to be better off. They may be tempted by the chance of easy money through a life of crime.

What can we do? The book is saying that what we all need more than anything else is love. Relationships, care, nurture - all these are far more important than things or money. You all have access to relationships, to love, and the best way to access them is to start caring for each other. One kind deed - a smile, a thank you - begin the relationship that cares and nurtures. That is what Oliver needed and wanted. And so do we all.

Please listen to the words of this prayer, and make them your own if you wish:
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We all want more!
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Throughout our lives, we see others with more than us.
Help us to be happy with love,
Relationships and care,
Along with our basic material needs.
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Help us to find love throughout our lives
And to give love to others.
Amen