The latest project by dance theatre company Lost Dog is a unique reimagining of Charles Dickens’ historical novel, A Tale Of Two Cities, complete with on-stage filming. 

Steve Adams caught up with Artistic Director Ben Duke to find out about the challenges of making something new from an old classic.

‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’ 

The first sentence of Charles Dickens’ A Tale Of Two Cities is one of the best-known opening lines in all of literature. It also seems to conveniently sum up the mindset of Lost Dog’s Artistic Director, Ben Duke (also its co-founder as well as a performer and choreographer), as he grapples with my question about what it’s like to finally be back at work after the Covid pandemic forced the company to go on hiatus.

“It’s mixed… it’s great but also hard, I think - exciting and difficult at the same time. It’s amazing to be back in the studio and doing stuff, but there’s this endless uncertainty around everything which we all feel. It’s just so precarious. It forces you to only exist in the short-term - a case of today everyone’s here and that’s good, so let’s get on with it and try not to think too far ahead.”

Ben sounds cheery now, but lockdown clearly wasn’t an enjoyable time. The theatre company’s key personnel met on Zoom every week, but the only work being done was practical or administrative, and Ben struggled for motivation. 

“For me it didn’t feel like a creatively fruitful time, it was just administration and logistical stuff. I found the emptiness quite difficult. There’s something about the normal routine of making shows that relies on deadlines and a time pressure, and once all that’s gone and I have no idea when I’m going to be in a theatre again, it felt hard to make work.”

Fortunately, when the company returned full-time last year, there was creative work waiting for them, as Ben had started an adaptation of A Tale Of Two Cities before lockdown. But why try and put such a complicated novel on the stage?

“It’s a book that’s been on my mind for a while. I read it a long time ago - I think it was on the A Level syllabus or something - and it really struck me as a teenager. There’s also something about Dickens in that I couldn’t imagine how I was going to put it on the stage, and I’m always drawn to things like that, things that initially feel like a challenge. 

“I was also interested to see whether it was possible to create something that could impact people in the same way that my teenage self was impacted by it.”

At this point it’s probably prudent to acknowledge that Lost Dog is hardly a traditional theatre company. It was named for its ‘mongrel’ style of work that typically contains elements of theatre, dance, comedy, circus and storytelling. It’s also safe to say that the company’s take on Dickens’ dramatic tale of love during the French Revolution won’t be a period piece.

“It’s definitely not a costume drama, no!” laughs Ben. “Our version is a reimagining, and the interesting thing for me is the characters and their relationships. I’m not trying to put Dickens down, but there’s a kind of simplicity to his characters in that they are either good or bad, and no one is really like that. It’s based in that Victorian Christian view of the world, but I’m interested in what those people would be like now, so we’re reimagining them as people we’d recognise now.”

Ben also believes Dickens was guilty of underwriting the character of Lucie, the daughter of main protagonist Doctor Manette, so his adaptation addresses the issue by putting her front and centre. He’s also had to remove a number of subplots and minor characters to create a 90-minute show out of a novel that would probably take 12 hours to read in one sitting.

“If people love the book and are coming for a faithful rendition, then it won’t be what they’re expecting, but it’s totally rooted in the book - that’s very much the inspiration. 

“People who know the book will recognise the events and the characters, but at the same time we’ve only got 90 minutes, so of course there’s huge compression and simplification.”

Ben also hopes the production stands on its own terms and makes sense to audience members who haven’t read the novel.

“I’ve been inviting people in who don’t know the book to see if they follow the story, because once you get into something and know how it goes, you can slightly lose track of what it’s like to come at it for the first time.

“I’m very aware that there’s a lot of material that can be overwhelming, so it’s trying to make the story clear.”

The production also uses the device of filmed interviews. These are conducted by Lucie, speaking to characters 15 to 20 years after the events of the novel, not only to help her understand what happened but also to effectively recount the story for the audience.

“The filming felt like a good device for that, as well as a chance to show how we capture memories and record events to try to understand them. Film has this strange idea of truthfulness too - when we watch a documentary, we assume there’s some kind of truth involved.”

The technique means actors have to operate cameras while performing.

“It’s a complicated process and the technical element adds a whole other level of unknown to it all, but the cast have been amazing. They’re all performers with a background in dance, and a lot of it is choreography - ‘you need to be here, and there’s going to be a wire there’ kind of thing - so in many ways they’re used to it.

“But it’s also interesting as a way of telling the story. Without wanting it to be another piece about lockdown, I have noticed how our relationship with live and filmed activity has changed. There’s a strange intimacy or sense of privacy that we can experience with a camera that suggests you’re having a conversation with just one person when it could potentially be viewed by thousands. The camera allows something personal to become very public, and I wonder how we feel about that - and if we even think about it.”

A Tale Of Two Cities shows at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, from Wed 16 to Fri 18 February