Eddie Izzard to Bring CHARLES DICKENS' GREAT EXPECTATIONS to Greenwich House Theater in December

Eddie Izzard will return to the New York stage this December for six weeks only playing 21 characters in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, a classic tale of convicts, mystery, friendship, rivalry, unrequited love, revenge, and redemption for six weeks only at The Greenwich House Theater (27 Barrow Street).

Performances begin on December 9 with a December 15 opening. The strictly limited engagement ends on January 22, 2023. Tickets are now on sale at www.eddieizzardgreatexpectations.com.

Dickens' novel was adapted for the stage by Mark Izzard and is directed by Selina Cadell. The design team is Tom Piper (set), Tyler Elich/Lightswitch Inc. (lighting), Tom Piper and Libby da Costa (costume stylists), and Didi Hopkins (Movement Director). It is produced by Westbeth Entertainment and Mick Perrin Worldwide.

Actor, comedian, and multi-marathon runner Eddie Izzard's boundary-pushing career spans all of these with record-breaking comedy tours and critically acclaimed film, TV, and theatre performances. But few know that acting was her first love. This show offers the chance to see Eddie in a solo performance of the master storyteller's beloved epic, Great Expectations.

Eddie, who is dyslexic, had never read a great work of literature, but knowing that she was exactly 150 years younger than Dickens (7 Feb 1812 to 7 Feb 1962) decided to start by reading Great Expectations. She was then inspired to develop it as a solo performance for the stage.

Eddie said, "Charles Dickens loved performing his own works in America, and so I thought it would be a wonderful idea to launch Great Expectations here. I always feel at home in New York, and I believe if Charles Dickens were alive today, he would feel at home too."

Director Selina Cadell said, "I find the combination of Eddie Izzard's idiosyncratic wit and Charles Dickens' ingenious storytelling irresistible and am looking forward to sharing it with New York audiences."

Great Expectations is the 13th novel by Charles Dickens. Published in 1861, it depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. The novel was first published as a serial in Dickens's weekly periodical, All the Year Round. Set in Kent and London in the 1820s to 1830s, it contains some of Dickens's most celebrated scenes, starting in a graveyard, where the young Pip is accosted by the escaped convict Abel Magwitch. Great Expectations is full of extreme imagery - poverty, prison ships and chains, and fights to the death - and has a colorful cast of characters who have entered popular culture. These include the eccentric Miss Havisham, the beautiful but cold Estella, and Joe, the unsophisticated and kind blacksmith. Dickens' themes include wealth and poverty, love and rejection, and the eventual triumph of good over evil. Great Expectations has been translated into many languages and adapted numerous times into various media. Upon its release, the novel received near-universal acclaim. During the serial publication, Dickens was pleased with the public response to Great Expectations and its sales; when the plot first formed in his mind, he called it "a very fine, new and grotesque idea".

Charles Dickens' Great Expectations running time is approximately two hours including an intermission.

BIOGRAPHIES

Eddie Izzard

Izzard's Broadway credits are A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Tony Award nomination) and Race. Her London stage credits include The Cryptogram, Edward II, 900 Oneonta, and Joe Egg. She is currently developing a one-woman performance of Hamlet. Eddie's film credits include Stephen Frears' Victoria & Abdul opposite Dame Judi Dench, Valkyrie, Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, Julie Taymor's Across the Universe, Mystery Men, Shadow of the Vampire, The Cat's Meow and Six Minutes to Midnight. TV audiences also saw her as Dr. Abel Gideon in Bryan Fuller's series, "Hannibal." Izzard starred in and served as an executive producer on the critically acclaimed FX Networks series, "The Riches." Her other notable films for television include "Castles in the Sky," "Treasure Island," and the Emmy winning "Lost Christmas." Izzard made her West End stage debut in 1993 in the solo show Live at the Ambassadors, for which she received an Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement. That was followed by a succession of critically acclaimed shows: Unrepeatable, Definite Article, Glorious, Dress to Kill, Circle, Sexie, Stripped, Force Majeure, and Wunderbar. Eddie is the recipient of two Emmy Awards (for Dressed to Kill) and an Emmy Award nomination for the documentary, Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story. Her autobiography Believe Me entered the top ten in the New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller lists. She performs her comedy shows in four languages and since 2009 has run 131 marathons to raise money for Sport Relief and her 'Make Humanity Great Again' fund.

Selina Cadell

(Director) is a director, actress and coach. Theatre directing includes Love for Love (RSC), The Life I Lead (West End), The Double Dealer (Orange Tree London), The Rivals (Arcola London), The Way of the World (Wilton's London), The Rake's Progress (Wilton's London). Films include The Turn of the Screw (Best Opera Film 2021 Critics Circle Award). Acting/Theatre includes Top Girls (NYC) /Obie Award, Stanley (NYC), Madness of King George (NYC), Twelfth Night, Cherry Orchard (NYC), A Monster Calls (London). TV includes "Midsomer Murders," "Queens of Mystery," "Poirot," "Doc Martin" (Mrs. Tishell). Selina runs an opera company with Eliza Thompson, Operaglass Works.

MARK IZZARD

(Adapter). Charles Dickens' Great Expectations is not Mark and Eddie's first collaboration. In 1972 at Bede's School in Eastbourne, UK Mark penned a play which might possibly have been called Hey! Watch That Fork! in which the all-boys cast donned jackets and ties over their pajamas and told a haunting story of death and cuisine. Serving as promoter and box office manager, Eddie (the younger sibling) sold tickets. Fast forward to recent years and the pair continues to work together including Mark translating Eddie's shows into French, German and Spanish, as Mark is pretty fluent in those languages, being a qualified translator, and he speak it better than the other one.

Didi Hopkins

(Movement Director) is one of the foremost practitioners of Commedia dell'Arte and works physically and visually in theatre. She worked with writer Richard Bean's Broadway success, One Man, Two Guvnors, and has worked with director Selina Cadell at the Royal Shakespeare Company as movement director on Restoration Comedy. She was co-founder of Beryl and the Perils who were the 'hottest thing part from the weather' (Village Voice), performed at WOW festival, Central Park, TNC, the Mudd Club. The National Theatre made five films about her work in Commedia.

TYLER ELICH, LIGHTSWITCH

(Lighting Designer). Tyler has always been drawn in by the energy an audience creates when sharing a live experience together. Since working in the theatre in high school he knew he wanted to be a part of that energy and turned that into a career when graduating from Ithaca College with a BFA in Lighting Design. That passion for creating a powerful shared experience has allowed Tyler to work in many different areas including rock concert touring, television broadcasts, corporate product launches, million square foot conventions, and special events. Tyler is a lifelong learner and treats every new project with enthusiasm and extreme attention to detail.

Tom Piper

(Scenic Designer/Costume Stylist) was Associate Designer at the RSC for 10 years and has designed over 30 productions for the company. He is Associate Designer at Kiln theatre London. Theatre work includes Medea (EIF/NTS); Girl on an Altar, White Teeth (Kiln); Faith (RSC/Coventry City of Culture); Nora: A Doll's House (Young Vic); The Histories (RSC Olivier Award for Best Costume Design); As You Like It (RSC Armoury's NY); Cyrano de Bergerac (NTS); Carmen La Cubana (Le Chatelet, Paris); Red Velvet Tricycle Theatre/St. Ann's Warehouse NY); Orfeo (Royal Opera House); Tamburlaine The Great (TFNA, NY); The Great Wave (RNT). Turn of the Screw (Wiltons/OperaGlassworks film); Richard III, Tempest, As You Like It; The Bridge Project at BAM. Design credits: Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red at the Tower of London and received an MBE for services to Theatre and First World War commemorations. Exhibition credits: Alice Curiouser and Curiouser, Winnie-the-Pooh, Curtain Up (V&A, Lincoln Center NY); Shakespeare Staging the World (British Museum).

LIBBY da COSTA

(Costume Stylist) is a London based costume designer who trained at the prestigious London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art. Over the course of her career, Libby has had the pleasure of working for a diverse range of clients, creating unique and powerful designs for television, film, commercials and now theatre! Libby recently designed the feature film Doctor Jekyll, the story of Jacqueline Hyde where Eddie played the lead role, Nina Jekyll. Whatever the brief or project, Libby combines her passion, insight and years of industry experience to realize any vision with imagination and flair. Libby has been seduced by the fast-paced, creative lifestyle involved in this line of work and is never afraid of a challenge. She is a storyteller and fantasist and through her costumes the characters are born. From contemporary through to period, Libby has worked with costumes that date back to as early as 1744.

Westbeth Entertainment

(Arnold Engelman, Founder/President) has consistently delivered critically acclaimed, financially successful, groundbreaking productions for over 40 years. Beginning as The Westbeth Theatre Center and morphing into Westbeth Entertainment, developing and introducing artists and talent to North American audiences is a big part of WestBeth's history. From Billy Connolly to Eddie Izzard, The Jim Henson Company to John Leguizamo and Trevor Noah to Hannah Gadsby, WBE has been the creative catalyst, partner and producer of some of the most innovative performances and productions on the continent in venues throughout North America including Madison Square Garden, The Hollywood Bowl, Toronto's Massey Hall, Chicago's Chicago Theatre and New York's Radio City Musical Hall. WestBeth's most recent productions include Professor Brian Cox's Horizon' tour of North America, Eddie Izzard's Wunderbar US and Canadian tours, Hannah Gadsby's Douglas' Off-Broadway run and Brian Henson's Puppet Up! Uncensored for multiple runs in Los Angeles. Other productions include Eddie Izzard's first US book tour for his memoir Believe Me, a New York Times Bestseller, North American debut of Australia's comedy group Aunty Donna, Hannah Gadsby's North American debut of Nanette, Dylan Moran's Off The Hook North American Tour, Noel Fielding (of The Mighty Boosh and "The Great British Bake Off,") North American debut tour An Evening with Noel Fielding, Eddie Izzard's Force Majeure American tour performed in all 50 states; Billy Connolly's High Horse tour, the Off-Broadway debut run of comedian Trevor Noah's Born a Crime; Eric Idle's What About Dick? Filmed for Netflix; John Leguizamo's Ghetto Klown on Broadway, the West End, in Colombia, South America; and the national tour; off-Broadway, Australian tour, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Las Vegas runs of Brian Henson's Puppet Up! Uncensored.

Mick Perrin WORLDWIDE

(Producer). Mick Perrin is a UK based producer/promoter/agent with a company he began over 20 years ago. Mick spent his youth playing in various punk bands around the UK and was the original STOMP production/tour manager. A long career in tour management turned to promotion, with the first ever UK arena tour with Eddie Izzard's Sexie Tour. Mick Perrin Worldwide currently tours over 50 artistes across 45 nations and is a major producer of comedy talent at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, first introducing the likes of Bo Burnham, Trevor Noah, Simon Amstell, and Brett Goldstein. Awards include an Emmy (Eddie Izzard's "Dress to Kill,)" Olivier Award for La Clique, Olivier Award for La Soiree, and a Chortle Award for Off-Stage Contribution. www.mickperrin.com

Greenwich House

was founded in 1902 with a mission to help New Yorkers lead more fulfilling lives through social and health services and cultural and education programs. Annually, nearly 15,000 people are served at their Senior Centers, Music School, Pottery, After-School and Summer Camp, Nursery School and clinics addressing behavioral health for seniors, adults overcoming addiction and for victims of child abuse. http://www.greenwichhouse.org.

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