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| A theatrical Great Expectations | A theatrical Great Expectations |
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| The Theatre by the Lake's contribution to the celebrations of the bicentenary of Dickens' birth is an atmospheric and hugely enjoyable adaptation of Great Expectations. | The Theatre by the Lake's contribution to the celebrations of the bicentenary of Dickens' birth is an atmospheric and hugely enjoyable adaptation of Great Expectations. |
| A single simple set with multiple doors for the actors' exits and entrances covers all the scenes, with a clever use of lighting moving us from Joe Gargery's smithy to Miss Havisham's decayed splendour, from the graveyard where Pip meets Magwich to the London flat he shares with Herbert Pocket. The lighting is also responsible for the melodramatic effect of the fire which kills Miss Havisham. | A single simple set with multiple doors for the actors' exits and entrances covers all the scenes, with a clever use of lighting moving us from Joe Gargery's smithy to Miss Havisham's decayed splendour, from the graveyard where Pip meets Magwich to the London flat he shares with Herbert Pocket. The lighting is also responsible for the melodramatic effect of the fire which kills Miss Havisham. |
| George Banks, playing Pip, is on the stage for virtually the whole of the play, as he changes from young Pip to grown-up Pip, and also acts as narrator. | George Banks, playing Pip, is on the stage for virtually the whole of the play, as he changes from young Pip to grown-up Pip, and also acts as narrator. |
| The action is extremely fast-paced. Although much inevitably has been cut from Dickens' nearly 600 pages to fit into not much over two hours of theatre, it is astonishing how much was left in. The only significant characters removed altogether are Pip's friend Startop, the villainous Dolge Orlick and Wemmick's gentle eccentric "Aged P". | The action is extremely fast-paced. Although much inevitably has been cut from Dickens' nearly 600 pages to fit into not much over two hours of theatre, it is astonishing how much was left in. The only significant characters removed altogether are Pip's friend Startop, the villainous Dolge Orlick and Wemmick's gentle eccentric "Aged P". |
| Maggie Tagney plays Miss Havisham with malevolent relish, keeping the Pockets under her thumb with the power of her money, and using Estella's beauty to get revenge for her lost love. Zoe Mills, as her adopted daughter Estella, is as icily beautiful and heartlessly indifferent to the feelings of others as you could want – as seven year old Pip says of her | Maggie Tagney plays Miss Havisham with malevolent relish, keeping the Pockets under her thumb with the power of her money, and using Estella's beauty to get revenge for her lost love. Zoe Mills, as her adopted daughter Estella, is as icily beautiful and heartlessly indifferent to the feelings of others as you could want – as seven year old Pip says of her |
| she seemed much older than I, of course, being a girl, and beautiful and self-possessed; and she was as scornful of me as if she had been one-and-twenty, and a queen. | she seemed much older than I, of course, being a girl, and beautiful and self-possessed; and she was as scornful of me as if she had been one-and-twenty, and a queen. |
As most of the actors have to play at least two characters, this is an excellent show-case for their versatility. Chris Hannon convincingly manages to change from amiable, slightly slow Joe Gargery to the erect and abrupt lawyer Jaggers, while just by changing her expression Joannah Tincey moves over from bad-tempered, cruel Mrs Joe to kind, gentle Biddy. | As most of the actors have to play at least two characters, this is an excellent show-case for their versatility. Chris Hannon convincingly manages to change from amiable, slightly slow Joe Gargery to the erect and abrupt lawyer Jaggers, while just by changing her expression Joannah Tincey moves over from bad-tempered, cruel Mrs Joe to kind, gentle Biddy. |
James Duke makes an superbly sinister and frightening appearance as Magwich, matching Dickens' description of him as | James Duke makes an superbly sinister and frightening appearance as Magwich, matching Dickens' description of him as |
| A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg … A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered and glared and growled. | A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg … A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered and glared and growled. |
| Dickens' theatricality is often commented on. Simon Callow, in his Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World, notes: | Dickens' theatricality is often commented on. Simon Callow, in his Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World, notes: |
| Before long, other people would respond to the inherent theatrical potential in his fiction and start restoring them to the stage to which, in an important sense, they belonged. | Before long, other people would respond to the inherent theatrical potential in his fiction and start restoring them to the stage to which, in an important sense, they belonged. |
| Dickens himself, in his public readings, was a noted performer of his own works. And of course virtually all of his works have been adapted for stage, screen or radio – in the case of Nicholas Nickleby, the RSC made an extraordinarily faithful adaptation that ran for nearly 10 hours. This production of "Great Expectations" expects less of its audience, but still manages to provide many memorable images. | Dickens himself, in his public readings, was a noted performer of his own works. And of course virtually all of his works have been adapted for stage, screen or radio – in the case of Nicholas Nickleby, the RSC made an extraordinarily faithful adaptation that ran for nearly 10 hours. This production of "Great Expectations" expects less of its audience, but still manages to provide many memorable images. |
| 'Great Expectations' is on at the Theatre by the Lake, Keswick until 10 November. | 'Great Expectations' is on at the Theatre by the Lake, Keswick until 10 November. |
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