The story Charles Dickens might have written after drinking too much gin…

Follow half-orphan Pip's extraordinary exploits with sisters Pippa and Poppy and best friend Harry Biscuit, as they attempt to escape the calculating clutches of the dastardly Mr Gently Benevolent, defeat the hideous Hardthrasher siblings, and deflect disaster at every turn! Will evil be vanquished by virtue? Can love triumph over hate?

Mark Evans' stage play Bleak Expectations is a hilarious, chaotic caper, featuring dastardly villains, preposterous names, pulse-quickening romances, heart-rending death scenes, and definitely, probably, hopefully a happy ending.

Based on the award-winning BBC Radio 4 series, the play opened at The Watermill Theatre, Newbury, in 2022, directed by Caroline Leslie. It transferred to the Criterion Theatre in London's West End in 2023, where it featured a medley of many well-known actors and comedians.

- Written by Mark Evans
- Directed by Pete Brassington

CAST

Sir Philip Bin ... Robert Crumpton

Agnes Bin/Flora Dies-Early ... Ros Greenwood

Thomas Bin/Bakewell Havertwitch ... Hugh Everett

Pip Bin ... Luke O’Hara

Pippa Bin ... Ella Muscroft

Poppy Bin/Ripely Fecund ... Fiona Primrose

Gently Benevolent ... Jonathan Higgs

Harry Biscuit ... Tim Cooper

The Hardthrashers ... Rob Clyne

Skinflint Parsimonious/Broadly Fecund ... Meg Brassington