I had high hopes for the new radio dramatization of one of my very favorite Dickens novels. What I got was a mixed bag. The atmosphere is a good blend of cozy and eerie, and I like the device of having a narrating Charles Dickens thinking his way through the story as he tells it. But adapter Mike Walker took it upon himself to take a number of liberties with plot and characters. Amy is too feisty, Arthur too hapless, and astonishingly, the characters of Mr. Meagles and Mr. Merdle have been combined into one man (who says "I say" more often than Foghorn Leghorn), for no reason that I can fathom.
One standout character is Affery; Sarah Thom's portrayal hits all the right notes of affection, timidity, confusion, and prescience. Carl Prekopp's Pancks and Lauren Cornelius's Maggy also come off very well. But so many characters have been cut that it does damage to the story; for instance, Arthur can't win Amy's trust by doing Tip a good turn when there's no Tip to do a good turn to. There's too much time spent on events like a party at Mr. Meagles/Merdle's house (and there isn't even a Mrs. Meagles/Merdle to liven it up!) that could have been used to bring in more characters, at least briefly.
Note that this is a review of episode 1 only (as I did with Hard Times). Episode 2 is up, but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. I'm hoping for better pacing and characterization in the upcoming episodes, but I fear that the creative minds have already undermined themselves by stripping the cast down to the bare bones.
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