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| The ensemble cast on the set of “The Dictionary of Lost Words”. |
Adapted by Verity Laughton from the novel by Pip Williams.
Directed by Jessica Arthur – Set Design by Jonathon Oxlade
Costumes designed by Ailsa Paterson – Lighting Design by
Trent Suidgeest
Composer & Sound Designer – Max Lyandvert
Performed by Kathryn Adams, Arkia Ashraf, Ksenja Logos,
Brian Meegan, Johnny Nasser, Shannen Alyce Quan, James Smith, Angela Nica
Sullen.
Presented by the Canberra Theatre Centre in association with
Sydney Theatre Company, State Theatre Company of South Australia and Creative
Australia.
Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse, May 15- 24th,
2025.
Performance on May 21st reviewed by BILL STEPHENS
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| Johnny Nasser (as Esme’s Father) – Shannen Alyce Quan (as young Esme) in “The Dictionary of Lost Words” |
Verity Laughton’s sumptuous stage adaptation of the
award-winning debut novel by Australian writer, Pip Williams, is enjoying a
sold-out season in Canberra.
The epic play follows the life of Esme Nicoll, portrayed by
Shannen Alyce Quan, who is first met as a precocious four-year old who spends
her days playing under the desk of her father, (Johnny Nasser), in a
Scriptorium, where he and a team of lexicographers are busy gathering words for
the very first Oxford English Dictionary.
Esme becomes fascinated with words, particularly those
discarded on slips of paper by the male lexicographers as irrelevant. The
realisation, when questioning the meaning of one of those discarded words, ‘bondmaid’,
along with many other of the words in her collection, had female connotations,
prompts Esme to set about compiling her own ‘Dictionary of Lost Words”.
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| Kathryn Adams (as Lizzie) – Shannen Alyce Quan (as adult Esme) |
Those attracted by the opportunity of seeing favourite
characters from the novel brought to life by talented actors, are unlikely to
be disappointed. The myriad of
characters required to tell the story, are created by just 8 actors, who, with
the exception of Shannen Alyce Quan, who plays the central character, Esme
Nicoll, from a four-year-old through to adulthood, manage, with the assistance
of excellent costumes and wigs designed by Ailsa Paterson, to populate the
stage with creative and charming characterisations.
But despite their excellent efforts, for those who haven’t
read the novel, deprived of a printed program to help identify the various
characters, the experience of keeping up with the numerous plot twists of the
epic story, may prove exhausting.
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| Shannen Alyce Quan (as Esme) and James Smith (as Bill) in “The Dictionary of Lost Words” |
Reported as having worked closely with Pip Williams to
create her adaptation, Laughton has fallen into the trap of not distinguishing
the wood from the trees by including too many superfluous sub-plots from the novel
and creating too many characters who are not given sufficient stage time to
make an impact on or connect with the audience.
Although these details might have been fascinating in the novel, despite clever directorial flourishes by director, Jessica Arthur in creating many lovely moments, many potentially interesting details are
not explored sufficiently in the play, and therefore detract from the main
focus, which is the creation of Esme’s personal dictionary.
Even Jonathan Oxlade’s remarkable multi-layered setting, enhanced
by projected timelines, dot-points and artful video decorations by Trent
Suidgeest, felt overpowering and intrusive in those scenes not located within the Scriptorium.
Therefore, despite the obvious talent, imagination and
creativity lavished on this production, the meandering nature of Williams’ novel
has not responded well as a stage production.
However, as the rights to Williams’s novel have been purchased
for presentation as a television series, perhaps the illusive nature of “The Dictionary of Lost Words” will be more
comfortably realised in that medium.
Images by Prudence Upton.
This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au
