Review: Theatre Review NZ

Lynne Freeman | New Zealand Theatre Review | 12 December 2007

Sometimes you get the feeling that visiting West End stars who bring shows to the antipodes are only really in it for a free holiday and some spare cash. Not Miriam Margolyes. She's performed Dicken's Women dozens if not hundreds of times, but other than being word perfect, you just know she loves these characters she brings so absolutely and convincingly to life, men and women.  

She's a woman of character, in looks and personality, and no one writes characters like Charles Dickens. A match made in heaven. But far from being a series of enacted readings, Margolyes intertwines performances with biographical information about the really rather unpleasant and downright cruel Mr Dickens, which is only partially offset but learning about his horrid childhood. His writing is the product of that childhood and many of his 17 year old heroines the product of his fixation with his sister-in-law who died at that age (girls Miriam says, with twinkling eyes, she finds 'icky').

Margolyes doesn't need fancy make up and numerous costume changes - she can transform in the flick of an eye from poor loyal Mrs Macawber to the cruelly terrifying Miss Havisham. But many of the delights of this show rest in portrayals of the lesser known female characters, one a lesbian, another a widow being pursued by a lusty policeman - and when you know the people some of the characters are modelled on, it just adds to the pleasure of seeing a an outstanding performer revelling in the work of a master wordsmith.