Adapted from Dickens by the multi-award-winning Edward Kemp, this production, by Theatre Sans Frontieres is nothing if not thrusting in its pace. Originally a satire on class, set in Paris and London at the time of the French Revolution, all subtlety is gamefully guillotined in favour of keeping the thing moving relentlessly forward. The imagination and ingenuity involved in doing so - on the part of co-directors John Cobb (who also appears onstage) and Magdalena Schamberger and, most particularly, set designer Graham Robinson - is exemplary, given the demands placed upon the audience to keep track of quickly shifting locations, six actors playing multiple roles (occasionally in the same scene) and a script in two languages.

While the adaptation and the sheer rigour of the performance left little room for individuals to shine, there were enough oases of calm to allow German actor Stephan Kreiss - this was a totally international cast - to flex a talent for comedy in the expressionled, physically absurd manner of John Cleese or Tim McInerny. The cast was never less than impressive as a unit but ultimately, with corners cut and episodes squeezed in the adapting and staging, one was left with a feeling that a genuinely full appreciation of the production would remain out of reach to those unfamiliar with the book, and/or unlearned in French. In short: more admirable than satisfying.