Linda Marlowe: 'We give Miss Havisham a chance to tell her story'

What was the genesis of Miss Havisham's Expectations?
I first did it two years ago at Edinburgh during the bicentenary of Dickens' birth. The brief was to do something about Miss Havisham, being such an iconic figure, and together with [writer/director] Di Sherlock, who I worked with on The World's Wife, we hit upon the idea of reimagining her back story. We also explore her relationship with Dickens, her creator, with whom she has something of a love/hate relationship.

She's a fascinating psychological figure
She is – there's even a condition called The Miss Havisham effect when people are very depressed. She's a woman who's been left in a brutal fashion and then creates Estella as an evil person in order to revenge men, but she does regret what she's done. So it's very moving and there's also a lot of surprising humour in there as well.

Her demise has sometimes been presented as suicide – do you agree with that interpretation?
I think that's a legitimate interpretation, but in our version she decides to burn her house down and escapes with severe injuries, which leads to her reminiscences. It doesn't specify in the book exactly what causes her death, so we leave it deliberately ambiguous.

Would you call your show a feminist reclaiming of the character?
Yes, I would. I think that's a very good way of describing it. She's an iconic figure with a lot of power, but she ends up looking a rather miserable figure. So we give her a chance to tell her story. Dickens was an incredible but controversial figure, particularly in his treatment of his wife, and we make reference to that as well.

And it's running in a double-bill with Sikes and Nancy
It is, though people have a choice whether to see one or both shows. Sikes and Nancy is a great show from James Swanton based on Dickens' own readings of the murder scene in Oliver!. The two shows make for a very intriguing pairing. Ironically Miss Havisham's Expectations even features an appearance from Sikes on screen, which was written long before we knew we'd be paired with James' show!

I have to ask about your new role in EastEnders – how's that been as an experience?
It's been fantastic. I'm a new and ongoing character [Sylvie Carter] who's very complex and quite dark. It's a wonderful role because it's very multi-faceted, and the chance to play Timothy West's wife was one I jumped at. EastEnders has got a lot of theatre actors on board recently, so there's a little gang of us. I hope it will help boost attendances at our various productions.

It must be quite something to walk on to that set
It is, and everyone is so lovely and welcoming. It's so funny that on screen everybody's shouting at each other constantly but off camera they couldn't be a nicer group of people.

Finally, what would you say to entice people to come to Miss Havisham's Expectations this Christmas?
Well nothing is more traditional at this time of year than Dickens, and even though we're not a Christmas show as such, there's no shortage of drama, comedy and magic.

Miss Havisham's Expectations continues at Trafalgar Studios 2 until 3 January 2015