Review of Great Expectations by The Royal & Derngate Actors Company at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton
Market Boy from The Actors Company last year was a remarkable show and is likely to stay with me for a long time, so following it with this year's production was always going to be a tough call and with their production of the epic Dickens classic Great Expectations , they at least didn't lack ambition. I have to be honest, things for me didn't start well. The first few minutes of this adaptation by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod is a busy and convoluted sequence moving the opening part of the story in an unclear and often irritating way. For those present not aware of the original story, I wouldn't envy them trying to keep up with what is going on. However much of the trouble of this opening sequence is quickly corrected as scenes become more defined and controlled and the story is allowed to develop at a slower pace. Steve While (Compeyson) Perhaps also in the early part, it doesn't help either that the gender-swapped Magwitch played by Salli Bersh...