Last Chance

Hard Times, Dickens’ shortest and arguably most humorless work is a hard nut to crack. Intrinsically didactic and self-righteous in tone, the piece tackles the shortcomings of the social utilitarianism prevalent in its day, as well as the evils of the Industrial Revolution and the inequities of the era’s harsh divorce laws. Director-adaptor Bart DeLorenzo retains Dickens’ language but jettisons high stage diction for more contemporary American speech -- a successful tactic that humanizes Dickens’ famously overblown characters. Ames Ingham as Louisa Gradgrind and Lisa Black as Mrs. Sparsit stand out among the cast of 13.

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Ends Sunday at the Evidence Room, 2220 Beverly Blvd., L.A. (213) 381-7118.