Adaptation of the Dickens Classic

Charles Dickens' classic coming-of-age novel takes to the stage in this riveting adaptation from Neil Bartlett! Turning the 600-page classic into a single play is no mean feat and it's done with aplomb in a production helmed by director Julia Rodriguez-Elliot. The hopeful dreams of childhood and the complicated reality of adulthood come to the fore in a brilliant piece of theatre for the 35th anniversary season of A Noise Within.

What Is Great Expectations About?

As a young child, the orphaned Pip lives with his sister and her husband, the village blacksmith. While roaming the marshes he encounters an escaped convict who coerces him into fetching food and tools to free him from his irons. He is later captured, but never reveals that Pip helped him.

A few years later, Pip is sent to entertain the embittered Miss Havisham, a spectral jilted bride, and her adopted daughter, Stella. Pip instantly falls in love with the glacial Stella, who states baldly that she can never love anybody. Dismissed from Miss Havisham's service, a disappointed Pip sets out to become an apprentice blacksmith when he receives a large sum of money from a mysterious benefactor, an event that will change Pip's fortunes and fate.