England in the middle of the 19th century: the orphan Oliver Twist grows up in a workhouse in a small town with the self-complacent and brutal Mr. Bumble as his superior. One day, Oliver is called to the deathbed of an old woman - she is the midwife who was present at his birth. The old woman gives a letter to Oliver which his mother gave her before she left Oliver alone in the orphanage.

Oliver is now determined to find his mother. He runs away from the orphanage and starts on a long way to London. A few days later, a mysterious man visits the orphanage and asks for Oliver. He immediately also starts his journey to London after having heard that Oliver has fled in order to go there.

Oliver reaches London in a totally exhausted and almost starved sate. There, in the confusion of this big city, an older boy who calls himself the Artful Dodger approaches him. He offers Oliver shelter and a job. Oliver gratefully accepts the offer and follows him into the quarters of Fagin who is the leader of a gang of thieves. Oliver apparently is welcomed quite cordially and is introduced into the art of pick pocketing.

However, the gang is really surprised when Fagin suddenly plans a bigger coup: he wants to break into a house in a rich district of London and Oliver is supposed to participate. During the break-in, somebody shoots at them and Oliver is wounded while the rest of the gang is able to flee. However, Oliver seems to be quite lucky: the owner of the house, a lawyer named Brownlow and his housekeeper do not call the police. Instead, they care for him until he is well again and take him in. But still, the mysterious stranger is close on Oliver’s heels without Oliver suspecting anything…

Charles Dickens wrote ‘Oliver Twist’ originally as a monthly serial for a newspaper. He disguises his social critique in an exciting crime story which later was to become his most successful novel. At its core, this novel is timeless and still up-to-date: at the beginning of the 21st century, children in Western Europe still live in poverty and humans still struggle to survive due to several reasons.

About the Author:
Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) is one of the most important British novelists of the 19th century. In his works, he created unforgettable idiosyncratic figures. At the same time, he was a sharp observer and critic of social circumstances of the time. As a reporter for the "Morning Chronicle", he started with sketches which were then published as a book called "The Pickwick Papers" that made him famous. From 1836 until 1841, he worked at different novels at the same time. He published "Oliver Twist" in 1837, which is his most-read book nowadays, and also David Copperfield in 1849. Dickens died from a stroke in 1870 at the age of 58 years.

About the Production:
Charles Dickens' novel "Oliver Twist" is still today, about 180 years later after its first publication, very popular. The story of the orphan who has to eke out his living in the city of London during the 19th century and to get out of misery himself, was made into several films (the last time in 2005 by Roman Polanski with Ben Kingsley as ‘Fagin’) and also adapted for the theatre.

The core of the story can still be seen in our present society – but in different manifestations: the individual against the social reality, the weak against the strong. Even in Germany in the 21st century, children going to school are hungry and have to steal in order to survive. "Oliver Twist" tells the story of a boy who triumphs over injustice.

The Junges Theater Bonn produces "Oliver Twist" as a complex musical which addresses older children, teenagers and also adults, just as the novel. The cast is as usually made of the unique mixture of professional actors and professionally guided children.