Charles Dickens’ novel Our Mutual Friend is a challenging book to adapt. For one thing it's almost unstageable: the River Thames is a major presence, there are drownings, complicated plots and multiple characters.
That's at least partly why writer Ben Power and I are so excited about our new version, opening at the National Theatre in April. But it's also because Dickens' last completed book resonates so strongly with the London we live in now.
