Bleak Expectations

Join a medley of much-loved faces including Tom Allen, Adjoa Andoh, Alexander Armstrong, Jo Brand, Julian Clary, Jack Dee, Stephen Fry, Nish Kumar, Lee Mack, Stephen Mangan, Ben Miller, Dermot O’Leary, Sue Perkins, Sally Philips or Nina Wadia* in this ‘irresistible’ (The Times) stage adaptation of the award-winning BBC Radio 4 comedy series Bleak Expectations. Each week a different guest star will regale us with the hilarious misadventures of the young Pip Bin – tragic half orphan, hopeless romantic and would-be-hero – as this glorious Victorian mash-up arrives at the Criterion Theatre for a limited season from the 3 May.

Not all at the same time, obviously (that would be ridiculous)

Bleak Expectations is the riotous story that Charles Dickens might have written after drinking too much gin. Follow Pip’s extraordinary exploits with sisters Pippa and Poppy plus 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? Escape with this joyfully anarchic comedy featuring barbarous boarding schools, contemptible conspiracies, roaring romances, devilish disguises, and definitely, probably, hopefully, a happy ending!