Review | Coram Boy at Chichester Festival Theatre: "Fans of Dickens will likely enjoy it"

Set in both Gloucestershire and London, the play tells the story of Alexander Ashbrook, heir to a vast estate who has an affair with his cousin and then ditches his inheritance to pursue his passion for music.

In the second act, the focus shifts to his illegitimate son Aaron Dangerfield, raised as an orphan at the Foundling Hospital in London, and the unlikely series of events which reunites him with his parents.

In truth, this is an incredibly simplified and diluted version of the plot – which has a large cast of supporting characters with their own narrative arcs, such as the nefarious child smuggler Otis Gardiner or his dim-witted son Meshak, who saved the baby Aaron from being buried alive – to avoid scandal – and gave him a second chance at life.

At two hours and 55 minutes, including an interval, this is a marathon of a show, but yet the pacing felt off.

The final half an hour crams in so many important moments that none are given a chance to breathe before we are on to the next one, losing the emotional payoff.

There were also some odd casting choices, with female actors playing the younger versions of male characters and male actors playing their elder counterparts.

Doubly jarring was that many of the former actors felt too old to be playing characters as young as eight.

It is an interesting story, shedding light on the Foundling Hospital as one of the earliest known charities – and has some lovely choral singing.

Fans of Dickens will likely enjoy this play, although the production could do with evening out the pace.

Until Saturday, June 15.