Bleak Expectations – Criterion Theatre

Based on the award-winning BBC comedy of the same name, Mark Evans’ Bleak Expectations takes everything you think you know about Charles Dickens work, chucks it in the air and sees where it lands.  There are some recognisable features of Dickens – foggy London, mistaken identities, legal intricacies, cruel headmasters. There the similarities deliberately end.  Evans’ hilarious comedy is narrated by Sir Philip Bin, who takes the audience through his life, introducing the characters who have shaped him. Known as Pip, Sir Philip’s overwhelming motivations are to protect his family and find true love. This does not always prove straightforward; he survives the cruelty of a public school with its regular beatings and lack of edible food, his mother goes mad after Pip’s father dies abroad (or was he murdered?) and he suffers various other impediments along the way.  Evans uses Dickens trope of naming all the characters according to their character, but as with everything else about this play, this is also subverted in a bizarro-world, topsy-turvy way.

The cast are all superb, acting up a storm with perfect comic timing (with maybe a couple of flubs and a bit of corpsing) that communicates to the audience the sheer joy of what they are doing. Marc Pickering deserves special mention for his fine performance as all The Hardthrashers, both nice and nasty. In particular, playing multiple characters in quick succession in the courtroom scene, Pickering produces a comic tour de force that has the audience in stitches. The Bin Family (Dom Hodson as Pip, Ashh Blackwood as Agnes, Serena Manteghi as Pippa and Rachel Summers as Poppy) have wonderful chemistry together.  And throughout, it’s laugh after laugh. Sometimes the dialogue comes a little too fast for all the jokes to land fully but there’s enough comedy content for that not to matter. 

Katie Lias’s set and scenery design are as clever as the play. Furniture slides effortlessly on and off, aided by the cast, gravestones pop up and disappear, there are clouds of “fog” and a huge pile of books – maybe including those of that fine author, Mr Charles Dickens. Apparitions talk to Pip from windows high in the set. Sound design by Ella Wahlström and lighting by Andrew Exeter also become a full part of the experience, highlighted by a brilliant moment involving a canon. 

Every week sees a new theatrical luminary appear as The Narrator, Sir Philip Bin. It’s a brilliant strategy as the show will feel refreshed every week. Stephen Mangan, Jo Brand and Stephen Fry will all bring a different take on the role, and there’s also the potential for the occasional ad lib and topical insert.  The wonderful Sally Phillips was in the role on press night and made the absolute most of the opportunity for cross-gender jokes and addressing the audience with a knowing nod.

A fusion of farce, panto-type jokes, physical comedy, all with a bit of Dickens, Brief Expectations is ingenious and hilarious in equal measure, a must-see for a great night out.

Bleak Expectations is at the Criterion Theatre until 3rd September. Tickets are on sale at:  https://www.criterion-theatre.co.uk/

Reviewer: Carole Gordon

Reviewed: 18th May 2023

North West End UK Rating: