Review: BLEAK EXPECTATIONS, Crescent Theatre Birmingham
Photo credit: Beth Gilbert
Bleak Expectations marks the first production of the Crescent Theatre’s 2024/2025 season. This parody of Victorian society by Mark Evans started its life as a popular BBC Radio 4 comedy series, and has since been adapted for the stage, first premiering in theatres in 2022, before now embarking itself upon Crescent Theatre’s Ron Barber Studio performance space for a limited run. It follows the entertaining premise of imagining an alternate universe in which Charles Dickens wrote a very different style of story after drinking too much gin! Audiences are transported into a whistle-stop tour of Victorian England, following the central protagonist Pip Bin as he ventures through a series of extraordinary exploits with his loyal family by his side, dealing with love, laughter and the right amount of chaos.
This production, directed by James David Knapp, features strong casting where each actor brings brilliant comedic timing to the stage to tell the story. This creates a successful ensemble where each performer shows their capabilities to bounce off each other’s energy to create a treat for audiences, as well as their range in accents and characterisation due to the reliance on multi-roling within the show. Many of the actors involved in Bleak Expectations have been part of the Crescent company for several years, which is unsurprising given the chemistry evident onstage from believable family bonds to heartwarming friendships between characters. This onstage camaraderie perfectly encapsulates the community ethos at the heart of the Crescent company.
Standout performances are given by the protagonist himself of Bleak Expectations, Andrew Elkington in the starring role of Pip Bin. Elkington’s character remains onstage for almost the entirety of the production, showcasing his impressive stamina, dedication to his craft, and ability to capture the audience’s attention through the ups and downs of his character arc. This ranges from youthful naivety and boyish charm to embodying the fine traits of an established gentleman in society ready to pursue his love interest in the latter half of the play. Jack Kirby’s characterisation of Gently Benevolent deserves a special mention. Do not let the character’s name fool you, Kirby’s performance captures every ingredient of a textbook villain, full of disguises, surprises and maniacal cackling a plenty.
Crescent Theatre’s production of Bleak Expectations provides many excellent moments of cleverly crafted attention to detail, creating magic onstage. Most entertainingly so is carried out by Graeme Braidwood’s character, Sir Philip Bin. Braidwood began the show as a rather exquisite gentleman of refined taste, always with a drink in hand. Each time he re-enters the stage, he brings out a more outlandishly flashy and less historically accurate drinking vessel, slowing establishing himself as a modern lad with plenty of flare. Braidwood’s portrayal of the narrative figure Sir Philip Bin is at once whimsical and tongue-in-cheek, building great rapport with the audience as we are light-heartedly guided through the events of the play by this cocktail-sipping gentleman.
The minimalistic backdrop designed by Keith Harris, perfectly accompanies the tone of the piece, creating a library atmosphere with scenery painted floor-to-ceiling in bookshelves to match the reputation of the well-known Dickensian author himself. The set is both simplistic and practical, creating plenty of onstage space to accommodate for the physicality required of this production, such as elements of stage fighting (which occasionally lack believability). While a more simplistic take on setting makes perfect sense, it would have been nice to further establish the ever-changing sense of location through the addition of more background music to set the tone of each scene. This could have led to more creative possibilities such as by blending period music with contemporary tracks to draw out the connections to modern day society, as hinted at within the script, such as Pippa Bin’s satirical laments on her desire for female agency and working opportunities.
This excellently cast comedy under the fine direction of James David Knapp proves itself a real treat for audiences in a character led take on Victorian society with a lot of promising potential and a cast of emerging actors at the heart of the Crescent community. Bleak Expectations is a crafty comedy packed to the brim with silliness, transporting audiences into an entertaining parody that reimagines Victorian England.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Heidi Downing