Watford Palace Theatre and English Touring Theatre Present Great Expectations

From a small Indian village to the bustling streets of Calcutta, this bold reimagining charts Pip's extraordinary journey in this story of love, ambition, honour and honesty. Commissioned by Watford Palace Theatre in a co- production with English Touring Theatre, Great Expectations is directed by Nikolai Foster.

Pip, a poor village boy, has a terrifying encounter with an escaped convict. In the crumbling colonial grandeur of Miss Haversham's house, he falls hopelessly in love with the heartless Estella. When an anonymous benefactor helps him move to Calcutta, the heart of the British Raj, Pip pursues his great expectations and his dream of winning Estella's heart.

Tanika Gupta has written extensively for television, radio and theatre. Her stage writing credits include White Boy (Soho/NYT), Sugar Mummies (Royal Court), Hobson's Choice (Young Vic), Gladiator Games (Sheffield Crucible), Fragile Land (Hampstead), Sanctuary (National Theatre) and The Waiting Room (National Theatre). Tanika was awarded an MBE in 2008 for services to drama.

Nikolai Foster directing credits include most recently A Christmas Carol (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Flashdance (Shaftesbury Theatre), Hay Fever (Chichester Festival Theatre), A Song at Twilight (Mercury Theatre and Tour), Absent Friends (Oldham Coliseum), Kes (Liverpool Playhouse and Tour), All the Fun at the Fair (UK Tour), The Witches of Eastwick (UK Tour) and London Assurance (Watermill and Tour).

The cast is Rob Compton (Compeyson), Tony Jayawardena (Joe Gargary), Tariq Jordan (Pip), Darren Kuppan (Wemick), Kiran Landa (Biddy), Simone James (Estella), Lynn Farleigh (Miss Havisham), Shiv Grewal (Pumblechook), Pooja Ghai (Mrs Gargary) and Russell Dixon (Jaggers).

Great Expectations is designed by Colin Richmond with lighting design by Lee Curran. It is composed by Nicki Wells with Nitin Sawhney as Musical Advisor.

The creative hub at the heart of Watford, the Palace engages people through commissioning, creating and presenting high-quality theatre, and developing audiences, artists and communities through exciting opportunities to participate. Recently, the Palace has enjoyed great success with the sell-out Von Ribbentrop's Watch, Bunny, with Creative Associate nabokov won a Fringe First at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer. In 2010 Watford Palace Theatre commissioned Mrs Reynolds and the Ruffian by Gary Owen which was nominated for a prestigious TMA Award, as was Ryan Sampson's performance in our popular production of Brighton Beach Memoirs also The Human Comedy which was nominated for an Evening Standard Award for Best New Musical and Creative Associate Company Rifco Arts were nominated for a TMA for Britain's Got Bhangra.

English Touring Theatre is one of the UK's leading national touring companies led by Rachel Tackley. The company has just been awarded The Stage 100 Producer of the Year Award which recognises an organisation's outstanding achievement in UK theatre. ETT presents potent, vivid and vital productions of new and classic plays. As well as the classics, ETT has been successful with several world premieres, including The York Realist by Peter Gill and Honeymoon Suite by Richard Bean. ETT's most recent credits include Rum and Coca Cola, Roger McGough's acclaimed version of The Hypochondriac, The Grapes of Wrath, Che Walker's Been So Long and Lovesong, Peter Hall's production of Uncle Vanya and Where There's a Will and Entertaining Mr Sloane with Imelda Staunton and Mathew Horne.

Following its run at Watford Great Expectations will tour to the following venues; Cambridge Arts Theatre, Theatre Royal Brighton, Richmond Theatre, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Oxford Playhouse and Malvern Theatres. For full tour details visit: www.ett.org.uk

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