Isn’t that Fagin wearing a kippah?
Simon Lipkin was 12 when he first played Dickens dubious character.Now he has reinvented him for the West End
Brigit Grant is the Jewish News Supplements Editor
Simon Lipkin was at Musical Con when he shared the secret about his kippah. The one that is “halfway between a yarmulke and a smoking hat”, which he wears as Fagin in Oliver! “And it has my Hebrew name embroidered inside.” It’s certainly a kippah par excellence, as is the patchwork coat that Simon would wear with jeans. But donning a Jewish skull cap is about more than a costume choice for Simon, as his portrayal of Dickens’ problematic character is a bold reclamation of Fagin’s Jewish heritage.
“I asked for my name to be in the kippah because it was important to me,” says the actor, keenly aware of the historical baggage. “When I got the part, a lot of people asked if I felt uncomfortable about the antisemitism, and my honest answer is that Fagin being Jewish has got nothing to do with his life choices. Yes, it was written with an antisemitic tone reflecting the times, but Dickens acknowledged that and redacted a lot – taking out the term ‘the Jew’ and replacing it with the name in the second edition. But that was how people felt and that’s okay – it’s about how we portray him now.”
Famously played by Ron Moody in the 1968 film of Lionel Bart’s musical, Simon’s portrayal of the “receiver of stolen goods” is very different. Primarily because he thinks there are two ways to look at what Fagin does in the story. “There’s the way he’s kind of building a criminal underworld using children, and that is true. But the way I see him is as an immigrant who lost his own family and is desperate to create another.
“He cares about the children and wants to provide them with a sense of belonging, to create a tribe, but the only way he knows how is through crime. He can’t change who he is because of his past, but at the end of the show when everything has gone very wrong for a lot of people – as it has for Jews throughout history – he walks off into the sunset. Not into a happy ending, but with hope.”
Accordingly director and choreographer Matthew Bourne and Cameron Mackintosh, who have reconceived the musical, were “inspiringly supportive” of what Simon thought and said. So much so that the classic Reviewing the Situation no longer shows Fagin stressed, but celebrating.“It’s wonderful,” smiles Simon. “The band plays a beautiful four bars of this klezmer music, then I just celebrate and dance.”
Simon first saw Oliver! at The London Palladium in 1994 when he was eight, then four years later got to be Fagin at Bancroft School in Woodford Green. Stepping into the role again as an adult feels like a natural progression, although not necessarily a matter of destiny. “No, I was just rubbish at everything else so I didn’t have a choice,” he laughs, reflecting on his path to the stage, which includes handling and being the vocal for puppet Trekkie Monster as part of the original UK cast of Avenue Q.
Cameron’s production, which opened first in Chichester, raises the curtain at The Gielgud on 14 December and is currently booking until September 2025. Simon’s parents, Ruth and Matthew, love the show and, as he signed up for the run, they’ll be popping back. “Hopefully it will go on beyond that,” muses Simon. “The show is deeply personal to Cameron as he had his first assistant manager job with Oliver! and later produced it. He also got the rights back for Lionel and still looks after and does stuff for his family. He cares about Oliver! very, very much.” As does Simon, who recently got engaged to Georgina Castle, who was Regina George in Mean Girls, and is quick to deflect praise, instead highlighting fellow cast members. “Everyone is so talented and brilliant, from the youngest, who I think is nine years old, all the way up to those in their late sixties. It’s a real actor’s show. You have to really commit to this story.”
Simon is 100 percent committed and his “extraordinary stage presence” has been mentioned. But the reviewer @therealchrisparkle, who wrote: “Fagin is totally believable, as much a victim as those from whom he steals”, is the one Simon is most likely to buy a drink for. Simon will be the one in the kippah.
For Oliver! tickets: http://delfontmackintosh.co.uk
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