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Charles Dickens Festival To celebrate the Charles Dickens’ Bicentenary

Productions at The Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham

The Everyman Studio Theatre celebrates the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth with three stage adaptations of some of his most popular works.

Jenny Wren Productions perform a madcap, zany version of The Pickwick Papers, Red Dog Theatre Company present Dombey and Son and the Everyman Theatre Company, directed by the Everyman’s Creative Director, Paul Milton, perform Great Expectations.

Jenny Wren Productions returns to the Studio with The Pickwick Papers, which follows the adventures of Mr Pickwick and his friend Mr Winkle as they journey around the English countryside. Full of marvellous characters getting into the most frightful scrapes, this is action-packed fun for all the family but be warned, along the way you may find yourselves embroiled in a series of accidents and altercations. There will be fights, chases, elopements and even, if you’re not careful, a prison stay. All the classic characters will be there, the cheerful cockney, Sam Weller, comic villain Mr Jingle and sleepy Joe, aka Fat Boy! Adapted by Doc Watson, this is a lively, fun version, full of madcap mayhem and lots of music and laughter.

Studio regulars Red Dog, who are based in Stroud, perform one of Dickens’ early works, Dombey and Son, his first serialised novel, which paved the way for later masterpieces. For Dombey, money and the power it bestows on its possessors are the only gods worth worshipping. But can money really buy him everything he dreams of? Dickens’ first truly great novel is a tale of pride and passion, generosity and greed, of human foibles and the society which breeds them, a tale told with great humour, indignation and pathos.

Great Expectations remains one of Dickens’ most popular novels and this brand-new adaptation is brought vividly to life in a new version by Paul Milton, which has been specially written for the Everyman Studio. The production is in association with the Worchester Hive and the University of Worcester is a fast-moving, very physical piece of theatre, which tells the Gothic horror story of Pip, the cruel Estella, the haunting Miss Havisham and the convict Magwitch.

Paul, who also directs the show, said: “ It has been tailored to suit a modern audience, though it is set in its proper period, so there will be plenty of lavish nineteenth century costumes. This is a professional production, augmented by some community performers, including students from the University of Worcester. After its performances in the Everyman Studio, the show will travel to the Worcester Hive, which is a brand-new arts venue in the middle of Worcester.”

THE PICKWICK PAPERS
Wednesday 17th – Saturday 20th October, 7.45pm /Sat mat 2pm

DOMBEY & SON
Tuesday 23rd – Saturday 27th October, 7.45pm/Sat mat 2pm

GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Wednesday 31st October – Saturday 3rd November, 7.45pm/Sat mat 2pm

Tickets: £10 ( £8 concs) or book all three Dickens’ productions for just £7. Available from the Everyman Box Office on 01242 572573 or online at www.everymantheatre.org.uk
Where: Everyman Studio Theatre, Regent Street, Cheltenham, GL50 1HQ

Explore Gloucestershire
12 October 2012

For further information.