From Page to Stage, Dickens’ Great Expectations Is Invigorated by Prime Stage’s Lively, Vivid Production

Jennifer Sinatra as Miss Havisham and Sam Lander as Pip Credit: Prime Stage Theatre

    In Chrles Dickens’ 13^th novel, Pip, the major character, might have been wise to have heeded Sylvia Plath’s pithy advice that “if you expect nothing from anyone, you’re never disappointed.”

          At least in matters of love, the orphaned rags to riches lad might have fared better had he taken Plath’s words to heart.

          Now getting a staging at the New Hazlett Theater in a Prime Stage Theatre Company production, Dicken’s lengthy 500-plus page bildungsroman gets an adaptation for the stage by Neil Bartlett that never feels overly edited or unduly condensed. The play’s narrative, while moving at a brisk pace, never feels rushed or busy under the guidance of veteran director, Art DeConcillis.

          We first meet Pip (Sam Lander) as a young boy visiting the graves of his parents and five brothers in a desolate cemetery on the edge of a Kent marsh. Pip’s melancholic mood soon erupts into one of terror as a burly escaped convict emerges out of the dark and threatens to cut his throat or have his sinister companion eviscerate his innards unless he brings him food to eat and a file to cut through his shackles.

          The terrified boy rushes home to his sister and brother-in-law’s where he absconds with a pork pie and some brandy, intended for Christmas dinner. This initial act of generosity will have significant implications for the future as he approaches adulthood.

          Until then, Pip’s called for by a neighboring wealthy heiress, Miss Havisham (Jennifer Sinatra) living in a dilapidated manse with her beautiful but emotionally frigid, adopted daughter, Estelle (Michaela Isenberg). On seeing the pert young maiden, Pip is at once stricken, but his feelings are brutally rebuffed by Estella, who’s been conditioned by Havisham to treat cruelly any romantic affection as way of getting back at the man who jilted her at the altar on her wedding day.

Jennifer Sinatra as Miss Havisham, Michaela Isenberg as Estelle and Sam Lander as Pip

          Given money by Havisham to pay for his apprenticeship to his kindly and good-natured brother-in-law blacksmith, (Jeff Boles), Pip labors for four years until an unknown benefactor enables him to head off for London dressed in the finery of a well-heeled gentleman.

          At this point I should mention the work of costume designer, Meg Kelly, whose selected attire remarkably underscores the socio-economic status of both the working and leisure classes.

          As Pip, Lander arcs both his psychological and moral growth from childhood to adulthood with convincing realism. His young Pip is all innocence and guilelessness, traits that morph into less commendable qualities after he comes into money and recklessly mishandles it.

          Lander’s work is embellished by that of the supporting cast, some of whom play multiple roles. Brett Sullivan Santry as the bellicose escaped convict manages to evoke a surprisingly softer, more benign side later in the story. As Pip’s sister, Chelsea Davis displays a convincingly vexatious and irksome personality that treats her brother with unfamilial harshness.

          Dylan Pal cuts a dashing figure as Pip’s rival for the hand of Estella, and Alex Brendel provides a bit of high-spirited levity with his light and carefree demeanor as Pip’s friend and tutor in the ways and manners of the upper classes.

          Keep an eye out for the stage presence of John Dolphin who, as Mr. Pumbechook and Mr. Wemmick, manages to capture colorful portrayals of engaging characters without resorting to caricature or stereotype.

          On the creative team, scenic designer, Alex Barnhar, bifurcates the stage with two sets, one to represent the manor house of Miss Havisham on stage right, the other to evoke the home of the blacksmith and his family, which later transforms into Pip’s London apartment following the onset of his financial windfall.

          In 2003, “Great Expectations” ranked 17^th on the BBC’s Big Read Poll. If you’ve read the book or even seen the 1946 film by David Lean, you might want to see how well adapter, Neil Bartlett and Prime Stage Theatre make the transition to the stage. If you’re completely unfamiliar with the narrative, now is a good time to sit through a staged version of one of the novels by one of Victorian England’s greatest authors, Charles Dickens.

          Great Expectations is at the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, on Pittsburgh’s North Side. A Prime Stage Theatre production, the play runs through November 10. For more information, phone (724) 773-0700.