Guildford Shakespeare Company Brings DAVID COPPERFIELD to Guildford in 2026

Guildford Shakespeare Company will bring Dickens’ favourite creation, David Copperfield to Guildford following its acclaimed London premiere as part of its 20th Anniversary Season. This is a three-actor adaptation, where no one ever leaves the stage and over 20 characters come to life in succession.

The 2026 tour will also include Windsor Theatre Royal and Ipswich New Wolsey Theatre before it settles in Guildford, transforming Holy Trinity Church into a stage for this unforgettable cast. At its heart, David Copperfield is a celebration of resilience and the extraordinary people who shape a life. Though David faces the classic Victorian challenges, schools, workhouses and formidable guardians, this production revels in the story’s brightness: its wit, its colourful characters and its triumphant sense of possibility.  From windswept Yarmouth to the bustle of London, audiences are whisked through David’s world, encountering Dickens’ most iconic characters, including Peggotty, Betsey Trotwood, Uriah Heep and the ever-hopeful Mr Micawber. In true GSC style, three extraordinary actors shapeshift at lightning speed, summoning an entire universe from suitcases, hats, puppetry and irresistible comic ingenuity.

The production reunites writer-director Abigail Pickard Price (The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Watermill Theatre; Macbeth, The Watermill Theatre), who adapted (alongside Sarah Gobran & Matt Pinches) and directed GSC’s internationally acclaimed Pride & Prejudice with the same creative team behind the hit Austen production. Following the company’s successful 2024 multi-venue Romeo and Juliet, the cast will feature Eddy Payne (Richard II, Guildford Shakespeare Company; Romeo & Juliet, Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre) as David Copperfield, with Luke Barton (Pride and Prejudice, Guildford Shakespeare Company; Frankenstein, Blackeyed Theatre) and Louise Beresford (Present Laughter & Noises Off, Frinton; Magic Goes Wrong, Apollo Theatre) bringing to life the vibrant world that surrounds him.

Matt Pinches, the GSC Co-Founder & Producer, comments, "It has been such a privilege to bring Dickens’ most autobiographical novel to life, and to see the wonderful response it has had with its London premier. The prospect of opening our 20th Anniversary Year with this enchanting and playful adaptation is very exciting as it really encapsulates everything GSC is about – classic storytelling with vibrant theatricality."

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