”Bleak Expectations” announces West End run with weekly star appearances
© Adjoa Andoh – Suki Dhanda, Stephen Fry – Elliott Spencer, Sue Perkins – Steve Ullathorne
Classic radio hit Bleak Expectations is making its way to the West End.
The stage version of Mark Evans’ beloved BBC Radio 4 series, directed by Caroline Leslie, was first seen at Newbury’s internationally revered Watermill Theatre last year. It will now move to the Criterion Theatre, where it begins previews on 3 May 2023 with an opening night of 18 May.
A mash-up of Dickens’ classics told with irreverential glee, Bleak Expectations follows the young Pip alongside sisters Pippa and Poppy and best friend Harry Biscuit as they combat a variety of absurd antagonists. The Watermill run received a glowing review, being described as a “huge success”.
In a special “twist”, a major cohort of celebrities will be playing the narrator role of Sir Philip “Pip” Bin during the run – including Tom Allen, Adjoa Andoh, Alexander Armstrong, Jo Brand, Jack Dee, Stephen Fry, Nish Kumar, Lee Mack, Stephen Mangan, Ben Miller and Sue Perkins. Exact schedules for each of them will be revealed in due course.
For Allen, who spoke to WhatsOnStage yesterday, it is a full circle moment: “Bleak Expectations was my first professional comedy gig I got to do when I got to start out in comedy 19 years ago. Mark Evans had written the pilot for Radio 4 and I just thought it was so funny. His style sort of reminds me of the Zucker Brothers – Naked Gun, Airplane sort of jokes with that level of silliness.
“It was such a thrill to do it on radio where I played young ingenue Pip. We had Richard Johnson (who had a remarkable, gravelly voice that could only come from living) as the older version of Pip on the radio – which is the role that I’m now playing on stage. So within 15 years I’ve accelerated into the older role… I’m having to drink a lot of whisky to try and get the same voice!”
Tickets for the West End run start at £15 with over 16,000 tickets available across the run at £30 or under.
Leslie’s production is designed by Katie Lias, with lighting by Andrew Exeter, sound by Ella Wahlström and casting by Lucy Jenkins and Sooki McShane.
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