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Shifting Sands’ GREAT EXPECTATIONS is a vivid recreation of the Dickens classic distilled into a visual feast of clowning and storytelling theatre. This is GREAT EXPECTATATIONS as you have never seen it before:  Three actors create a show that is invigorating, comic and heart-breaking.

Shifting Sands play with Dickens’ ingredients, irreverent yet remaining faithful to the original.

With GREAT EXPECTATIONS, Shifting Sands extends its reputation for unconventional interpretations of classic texts. The company won critical acclaim for its riveting productions of Faustus and Romeo & Juliet.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

A brilliant performance. A mix of laughter and pathos. I loved it so much I am going to re-read the book.

There was great movement throughout the performance and interaction with the audience and each other was brilliant!

Perfect. Seen the Stratford production recently and preferred this one.

I’m not normally a fan of “obvious” comedy – but this worked. It’s good to see classic texts being performed and will hopefully encourage more people to read the book and go to the theatre.

I liked it, which must be good as I hate Dickens.

Fantastic use of props and the space and hilarious acting!

Disliked nothing – excellent performance. The mix of sanguine and comedy was very good. Please give us more.

The Rondo, Bath

April 22nd 2006

Some actors, just by the way they look, are destined to play certain characters. In Gerry Flanagan’s case it was always going to be Magwich, the anonymous criminal benefactor of young Pip in Charles Dickens’s Victorian morality tale of wealth and social climbing. It’s no mean feat to take on one of the world’s classic stories, distill it and then retell it on one of the tiniest stages in the country with a cast of only three actors. Shifting Sands have risen to the challenge and in this piece, which is a mix of melodrama, cartoon and physical theatre, and take the audience on a high-speed journey through the gloomy world of poverty and aspiration of Victorian England. 

The individual performances are very satisfying, notably those of Sophie Russell, and together with the ingenious use of simple costume and set changes, convey perfectly the mood of each twist and turn of Dickens’s wonderful morality tale.

The lighting is especially good, sometimes bright and cheery but often dark and at times lit only by candle. You get the sense that you could be watching the play in a little theatre somewhere in 19th century England.

The audience in the Rondo in Bath were completely absorbed, and surely there can be no greater compliment for any piece of story telling. Even my 12-year-old son, a fully paid up member of the computer game generation, was engrossed throughout. 

Overall, Great Expectations is a compelling production presented by hugely talented performers and a wonderfully inventive retelling of Dickens’s bittersweet tale.

Brian Popay

A brilliant performance. A mix of laughter and pathos. I loved it so much I am going to re-read the book.

There was great movement throughout the performance and interaction with the audience and each other was brilliant!

Perfect. Seen the Stratford production recently and preferred this one.

I’m not normally a fan of “obvious” comedy – but this worked. It’s good to see classic texts being performed and will hopefully encourage more people to read the book and go to the theatre.

I liked it, which must be good as I hate Dickens.

Fantastic use of props and the space and hilarious acting!

Disliked nothing – excellent performance. The mix of sanguine and comedy was very good. Please give us more.

Most enjoyable. We were dubious at first but ended up entertained. We travelled from Wigan to see it and it was worth it.

It was fantastic. Just the right amount of fun and humour without losing anything of the spirit of the original.

Totally engaging. Wonderful to experience such top quality theatre here in our village hall. Unique energy and resourcefulness.

The performance was brill. Better than the video I saw at school.

I enjoyed your show immensely and was hugely entertained. Thank you for putting in such skill, dexterity, dedication and passion.

Particularly wish to praise the way you handled the fire and your use of colour and the effect of the shadows on smoke in Magwitch’s death scene.

Fantastic visual display. Brought extra quality to a book I thought I’d read and seen to death.

Great clowning moments, jumping in and out of roles, Fantastic acting.

The production was excellent, very different. I love the humour and sadness.

I was totally enthralled. A really wonderful performance. Acting was awesome.

I like the fact that it was funny.

I really enjoyed this version of Great Expectations – my favourite novel. Acting and directing superb. You really showed how funny Dickens is.

We much enjoyed it and learned a lot.

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire show. I thought it was imaginative and highly entertaining. It could not be improved upon. A masterpiece!

It was extremely well structured – the physical theatre was well executed, enabling the audience to visualise the journeys, the weather, the environment. Most enjoyable. I will recommend you and look out for another of your performances.

Full of wonder! Loved it!

National tour- 44 dates across 2006