Bleak Expectations by Mark Evans

Christmas time is where Charles Dicken’s Christmas Carol is watched most to get into the SPIRIT of things (see what we did there), whether performed on the stage, an animated film or with Michael Kane and the muppets it’s fair to say it is a Christmas favourite, but we did that a few years ago.

This Christmas we bring you a comedy and Dickens! The comedy that Charles Dicken’s 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 including Stephen Fry, Ben Miller, Adjoa Andoh.