Great Expectations/Malvern Theatres

AS one might expect, this is a long play that perfectly showcases Charles Dickens’ mastery of language and storytelling.

But what on earth was designer James Turner thinking about when he came up with his oversized rabbit hutch of a set?

When I watch a production, I need to get in the zone and quickly. In this case, we should have felt the dank, Magwitch-haunted marshes of the Medway, the will o’ wisp shrouded graveyard and the cobwebbed museum that makes for Miss Havisham’s mortuary of a home.

Instead, we had two-and-a-half hours of staring at a crude, cage-like structure devoid of all symbolism. It was an overpowering and depressing trap of a distraction that conjured up the feeling of being stranded in a station waiting room when the last train had left for the night.

However, this timeless classic is saved by a supremely talented cast, not least of whom is Nichola McAuliffe as a stupendously decayed Miss Havisham, the jilted bride who whiles away her empty days in a permafrost emotional existence.

But Isla Carter as Estella narrowly avoids overstaying a decidedly shrewish welcome, being one of several individuals who beat poor Pip both literally and metaphorically.

As for the wastrel himself, Sean Aydon appears to have wandered on stage from another Dickens novel. His character seems more like Smike in Nicholas Nickleby, what with all the hair-pulling, ear-twisting and other physical abuse.

Nevertheless, I did like Daniel Goode’s approach to the Magwitch role, not least because of the fact that he alone adopted the correct regional accent amid a welter of totally inappropriate bumpkin vowels that could have come straight out of The Archers.

Full marks should also go to Ollie King, whose English concertina accompaniment added some sorely needed colour to the proceedings.

Great Expectations is a Tilted Wig and Malvern Theatres production. It runs until Saturday (February 17).

John Phillpott