Charles Dickens’ epic last novel Our Mutual Friend was trimmed down by Ben Power and Ian Rickson to open as London Tide in 2024 at the National Theatre. This ode to London opens with a body being pulled from the River Thames, and weaves together the lives of the mysterious John Rokesmith, believed to be the dead body, and Bella Wilfer, his never-met fiancée, as well as Lizzie Hexam and her ambitious brother, Charley. Her friend, the defiant Jenny Wren, an impoverished waif played by Ellie-May Sheridan, and two lawyers, Eugene and Mortimer, are featured but sadly, other characters are cut, such as the Veneerings, Silas Wegg, The Twemlows, Noddy and the Gaffer. Social mobility, moral short cuts for survival, corruption, shame, deceptions and social climbing are eternal themes, but the Dickensian preoccupation with marriage as an economic enterprise is centre stage.

Directed by Ian Rickson, (Jerusalem,The Weir, Mojo, Betrayal) and adapted from the novel by Ben Power (The Lehman Trilogy, Medea), the play’s haunting original music and “spine-tingling songs” were scored and performed by celebrated singer-songwriter PJ Harvey. Newcomer Ellie-May Sheridan, aged 18, in her “scene-stealing debut” gripped the audience’s heart strings and won Best Performance in a Play at the Stage Debut Awards 2024, for her part as Jenny Wren.