Review by Elena Mozzato
The autumn season at the Bristol Old Vic opens up grandiosely with a classic. Adapting a Dickens’ favourite is always a big responsibility as audiences are likely to have their own clear ideas about how the plot unwinds around the unique characters and their own interpretation.
Director Neil Bartlett got it just right. He and his cast deliver a performance that is faithful to Dickens´ literary intentions and one that still offers up surprise. The characters are credible; Tom Canton is able to morph seamlessly between the youthful adolescent Pip and city gent he later became.
As he does so, the 6ft actor is transformed at once into a fearful young boy who struggles in trying to grow up in a hostile world filled with torment and punishment.
The play benefits particularly from the feast of sound that envelops the stage as the story gathers pace. Most significantly the distinctive sound of metal is a recurring theme in Dickens´ novel as well as in Bartlett´s adaptation. Files, chains, hammers and anvils are key elements – loud and sharp. Without doubt this is a great piece of theatre, in which the audience can do nothing other than to immerse totally into this dark story of loneliness, guilt and forgiveness.