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	Hill Street Theatre (venue website) Theatre 1-12, 14-25 Aug, 2:15pm-3:15pm
Family-friendly. Suitable for all ages.

Our pick today is solidly traditional, thoroughly unchallenging… and in every way perfectly delightful. A warm-hearted one-man adaptation of Dickens’ Pickwick Papers, we first spotted this show at this year’s Brighton Fringe – where actor Nigel Nevinson impressed us with his mastery of the character and instantly-likeable style.

Cherry-picking highlights from Dickens’ first novel, Nevinson’s self-penned script focuses on Pickwick’s wrangling with an unscrupulous firm of lawyers (a plot point which has remarkable resonance in the present day).  Drawing out the humour underpinning the book, Nevinson portrays a full cast of characters with consummate ease, telling his story with a sprightly sense of fun and lashings of period charm.

The performance we saw in Brighton wasn’t entirely free of flaws, but it’s a ray of pure sunlight in a sometimes-overwhelming Fringe.  As it moves to Hill Street Theatre, a stone’s throw from the Book Festival, we’re sure it’ll bring Pickwickian delight to both literature-lovers and newcomers alike.  As we said when we reviewed it back in May: there should simply be more shows like this one.