First performed at the Waterside Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, on 28th November 1995. Sold out before the first night! One of the best adaptations I have seen. (Stratford Herald) A very competent and skilful adaptation ... which handles the complex plot with ease, the action always fluid and fast. (Samuel French)
Casting Minimum 8M 5F 4C playing 53 characters. Performing time: Two and a quarter hours plus interval.
Written in an episodic narrative style, this action-packed, fast-moving adaptation of Great Expectations, Charles Dickens great adventure story - set against the background of the rivers Medway and Thames - tells of the good fortune bestowed on the young orphan, Phillip Pirrip - better known as Pip - by a mysterious benefactor, and of his undying devotion to the haughty young Estella, who was adopted by the recluse, Miss Havisham and brought up by her to wreak vengeance on the male race. We meet the London lawyer, Jaggers and his clerk, Wemmick; the criminal Magwich, his enemy Compeyson; the pompous Uncle Pumblechook, simple Joe Gargery, his shrewish wife Mrs Joe, and the lovable orphan Biddy. Pips good friend, Herbert Pocket and his grasping relations - and a whole galaxy of other characters - fill the story. The play opens on one Christmas Eve afternoon, when seven-year-old Pip, tending his mothers grave, is surprised by the convict Magwich. After giving help to the escaped convict, the story follows the fortunes of the young man, from rags to riches - the climax of the fight on the river - and back to rags twenty years later. Pips unswerving affection for the beautiful Estella results in much unhappiness for them both. Older and wiser, they finally meet up again in the grounds of the old house where Pip used to visit her and her adopted mother, Miss Havisham. Can there be hope for them at last?
