New Vic theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme
Sisters Danielle and Nichole Bird create a dreamlike mirror image in a superbly staged production, alive with music, wit and spectacle
It was written as a novel, but Mark Twain’s 1881 children’s classic depends on a theatrical conceit. Set in the dying days of the reign of Henry VIII, it imagines the meeting of the young Prince Edward and an impoverished commoner. Each is envious of the other’s life and, conveniently, they look alike. In the manner of everything from The Comedy of Errors to the sub-genre of Hollywood body-swap comedies, they switch places and, in so doing, upturn the social order.
While Edward has his eyes opened to the injustices of the Tudor legal system, his doppelganger Tom ushers an era of compassion into the royal household.
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