by Charles Dickens
Adapted for radio by Giles Cooper 3 — ' In Trouble'
Characters in order of speaking:
Produced by Charles Lefeaux
Oliver, apprenticed to Mr. Sowerberry, spends his first night in the shop among the coffins; in the morning he meets for the first time Noah Claypole, his work-mate, who bullies him. Oliver spends some weeks with Mr. Sowerberry reluctantly learning the gloomy trade. One evening while his master is out Oliver is taunted by Noah with his shameful birth; furious at hearing his mother mocked Oliver flies at the charity-boy and attacks him so savagely that only the combined effort of Mrs. Sowerberry and Charlotte, the maid, succeed in dragging him ofl. Shut in the coal cellar, he defies Mr. Bumble and is beaten by Mr. Sowerberry. He determines to run away, so the next morning, after a brief visit to his friend, Dick, he sets out for London. After walking for seven days he arrives, miserable and alone, at Barnet, where he meets a young gentleman who introduces himself as Jack Dawkins , The Artful Dodger. Hearing that Oliver is friendless the Dodger takes him to London to meet an old gentleman who will make his fortune. The old gentleman is Fagin.
(Wilfrid Downing is appearing in ' Peter Pan ' at the Scala Theatre, London)