GREAT EXPECTATIONS Comes to TS Theatre After Reading Fringe Success

This September the Dickens' classic Great Expectations will be brought to life on the Wyvern stage by TS Theatre after a string of recent successes for the locally-based company which have seen them fill the Arts Centre, thrill audiences at Reading Fringe Festival and sell-out a performance this week at the Shoebox Theatre.

New play Four Sunsets was debuted last September and TS were then invited to take it to Reading last week for two performances, where they received a 5-star review from Explore Reading. With audiences in Swindon keen to catch the show, writer and Company Director Peter Hynds arranged for a one-night showing at the Shoebox, which sold out in just a few days.

During an already busy period for Four Sunsets, the company have also been rehearsing their next production, an exciting adaptation of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. The stage version of the classic novel is written by Hugh Leonard, and although the story is obviously compacted down, all the main characters and plot points are still there.

A strange meeting in a churchyard sets in motion a chain of events that will shower a young man with money, break his troubled heart and lead him deep into a labyrinth of deception and discovery. Great Expectations is a story about transformation, loss and - ultimately - forgiveness.

As with all TS shows, this won't be a straight-laced production with the script and performance elements taken at face value. Hynds, who is directing the 12-strong cast, promises originality and a show inspired by unexpected themes and practices:

"We like to surprise our audiences and provide them with an experience that they won't easily forget. We're all working hard to ensure that the show is a spectacle, both visually and performance-wise. Great Expectations has a lot of dark themes and we're really enjoying exploring that side of the text and putting our own TS twist on it."

TS Theatre have previously brought One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to the Wyvern. The company have also performed Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the RSC and have taken productions to venues around the South West and in London.

Tickets for Great Expectations on Mon 11 September are on sale now at swindontheatres.co.uk or through the Ticket Office on 01793 524481 and are priced at £14.00, with discounts for concessions and school groups. The production is proudly sponsored by The Swindonian.