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Bleak Expectations

Mark Evans

The story Charles Dickens 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.

Cast –

Sir Philip Bin – Rachel Turberville-Smith

Pip Bin – Laura-Jane Parsons

Agnes Bin – Catherine Aherne

Thomas Bin – Alan Dennis

Poppy Bin – Sam Kelly

Pippa Bin – Renee Brown

Harry Biscuit – Jess Windsor

Skinflint Parsimonious – Fiona Sinclair

Mr Gently Benevolent – Nathan White

Bakewell Havertwitch – Lynn Cockerill

Headmaster Wackwell Hardthrasher – Chris Walker

Reverend Praygood Hardthrasher – Matt Broad

Miss Chastity Hardthrasher – Julie Knight

Judge Solomon Hardthrasher – Mark Lancaster

Broadly Fecund – Paul Gorsuch

Ripely Fecund – Jane Lunn

Flora Dies Early – Phoebe Borton

Lily Haversac – Rose Goldthrope

Various Ensemble Parts – Felix Olsen