Bleak Expectations stage play gets West End run
- Radio sitcom Bleak Expectations is transferring to the West End stage from May to September
- The play will feature a different guest star as lead role Pip every week, including Tom Allen, Lee Mack, Stephen Fry and Sue Perkins
- Tickets are now on sale from bleakexpectations.com
A stage version of hit radio sitcom Bleak Expectations will run in the West End this summer.
Having debuted at the Watermill Theatre in Berkshire last year, the comedy by Mark Evans will take up residence at the Criterion Theatre on Piccadilly Circus in the centre of the capital, running between 3rd May and 3rd September.
The Dickensian pastiche originally ran on BBC Radio 4 for five series from 2007, starring Tom Allen, Anthony Head, Richard Johnson, James Bachman, Susy Kane and Sarah Hadland. It told of Sir Philip 'Pip' Bin, inventor of the bin, his sisters, and friend Harry Biscuit, as they fought to escape the clutches of evil and ironically-named guardian Mr Gently Benevolent.
Running for a limited season early last summer, the play won glowing reviews, and its West End production will feature A-list comedy stars, guest-appearing for one week each in the leading role of Pip.
Those confirmed to be taking part so far include original radio Pip Tom Allen, as well as Adjoa Andoh, Alexander Armstrong, Jo Brand, Jack Dee, Stephen Fry, Nish Kumar, Lee Mack, Stephen Mangan, Ben Miller and Sue Perkins.
Producers tease: "Bleak Expectations follows young 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!"
A full list of guest stars and their performance dates, as well as casting details for other roles, will be confirmed at a later date.
Adjoa Andoh said: "I was excessively fond of this presentation on the wireless and cannot wait to glory in the misadventures of Pip Bin Esquire and his hapless band of acolytes. Bridgerton/Smidgerton - here is the pony for this game dame..."
Jo Brand said: "Bleak Expectations is the motto by which I have always lived my life, so delighted I can continue to live the dream."
Jack Dee jokes: "I'm appearing as The Ghost of Comics Past."
Stephen Fry says: "I'm so excited about this coming gig that I simply can't keep any solid food down. Sounds a bit grim, but I only throw up for really prestige projects. I heaved slightly before my last appearance on The Graham Norton Show, and pacing nervously backstage at the Platinum Jubilee Party at the Palace last year I regurgitated as much as a full serving of Rice Krispies. But this Bleak Expectations guest slot already has me spewing colossal arcs of sick every morning. A really good sign."
Nish Kumar said: "I am as excited to do whatever this is as any human being has ever been about doing anything in the entire human species."
Ben Miller comments: "Few things, I contend, may afford an actor such pleasure as joining the cast of Bleak Expectations for a glorious week of their knicker-wettingly funny Criterion run."
Tickets are now on sale, starting at just £15, via bleakexpectations.com
Bleak Expectations - The Novel
You think you know the entire story of Bleak Expectations but look! Now it's also a big, fat, juicy book. Like the radio series, but with added jokes, extra bits of story, additional dimensions to characters and masses more paper. Unless you're reading it as an e-book in which case ...masses more digital information bits.
Bleak Expectations recounts the remarkable adventures of young Pip Bin as he tries to repair his destroyed family and distinctly damaged life, aided by his best friend Harry Biscuit and definitely not aided by his cruel and ironically named guardian Mr Gently Benevolent and his accomplices, the fearsome Hardthrasher siblings. Grim circumstances, mistaken identities, unlikely inheritances,nightmarish court cases, ridiculous names, convenient coincidences to resolve plot problems, over-sentimental death scenes and lots and lots of adjectives: Bleak Expectations is the novel Charles Dickens might have written after drinking far too much gin.
Brand new novelisation of the first series of Radio 4 hit sitcom and Dickensian pastiche Bleak Expectations, by Mark Evans.
First published: Thursday 15th November 2012
- Publisher: Corsair
- Catalogue: 9781472103406
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Bleak Expectations - The Complete Series 1-5
The complete collected Series 1-5 of the gloriously daft Victorian romp Bleak Expectations.
Gasp at the evil Mr Gently Benevolent, played by Mr Anthony Head! Weep at the trials of our young hero, Pip Bin, played by Master Tom Allen! Be moved to joy and sorrow by the remarkable narration of Mr Richard Johnson! Swoon at the fragile beauty of Pip's poor mama, played by Miss Celia Imrie! Wonder at the thespian prowess of Mr Geoffrey Whitehead as six different siblings! Follow the remarkable adventures of young Pip Bin as he struggles to rescue himself and his sisters from the schemes of his evil and badly named guardian, Mr Gently Benevolent, and the blood-curdling Hardthrasher family.
Immerse yourself in a timeless epic featuring terrifying schools, even worse prisons, opium dens, disguises, court cases, shipwrecks, underwater squirrels and swashbuckling long-lost aunts. Revel in the many fine quips, characters and scenarios written by Mr Mark Evans and produced by Mr Gareth Edwards, previously renowned for their craftsmanship on the works of Messrs Mitchell & Webb.
First released: Monday 3rd July 2017
- Distributor: BBC Digital Audio
- Minutes: 844
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