Photo Flash: Inside Rehearsals for Northern Broadsides' Production of Charles Dickens' HARD TIMES

Northern Broadsides have released rehearsal images for the forthcoming premiere of Deborah McAndrew's new adaptation of Charles Dickens classic novel Hard Times. Check out a first look at the production in the photos below!

Set in a world where imagination is forbidden. Coketown is such a place. Thomas Gradgrind will not permit fanciful thoughts in his school or his home. But what effect will this policy have on his own children, Tom and Louisa? How can he protect them from corrupting influences - especially when the circus comes to town?

Dark satanic mills, interrupted by the colour and vibrancy of Sleary's Circus, set the stage for a sweeping tale of suppressed love, seduction and social mores, peopled with the sharply observed exaggerated characters that Dickens is celebrated for.

Hard Times cast will include Suzanne Ahmet (Saint George and the Dragon, National Theatre); Darren Kuppan (Guards at the Taj, Bush Theatre and The Tempest, Globe Theatre); Vanessa Schofield (Plastic Figures, Box of Tricks); Tony Hunt (The Commitments, West End) and Paul Barnhill (Brassed Off, Oldham Coliseum and Steven Spielberg's The BFG and Ready Player One).

Directed by Northern Broadsides Resident director Conrad Nelson, the new adaptation will premiere at the Viaduct Theatre Halifax from 16-24 February and then nationally until 26 May 2018.

For more information visit www.northern-broadsides.co.uk

Photo Credit: Nobby Clark