Civic Theatre, Darlington TOWERING, terrifying and touching, this stage adaptation of the novel by Charles Dickens may be the most compelling piece of theatre Darlington audiences will see this season.

Overcoming the difficulty of the book’s myriad scenes and multiplicity of characters, the entire tale is played out as sketches within the confines of the decaying dining room at Satis House.

Dripping with cobwebs, decades of clutter in every crevice, it too becomes a character; creaking and groaning, puffing out dust, a huge edifice reaching up to the rafters, threatening to crumble any second, in tune with Dickens’ literary habit of vitalising the inanimate.

The stunning set is matched by a pageant of characters, ranging from realistically human to colourful caricature, many resplendent in exaggerated costumes and masks, with lighting and music signalling changes of scenes and intensifying the drama.

Sorrowful and reflective, Paul Nivison is a constant presence as Older Pip, narrating his encounters with Paula Wilcox’s malicious Miss Havisham. Taylor Jay-Davies plays for pathos as Young Pip, changing from hapless boy to confident young man.

Chris Ellison, monstrous as Magwitch in the graveyard, pulls at the heartstrings in his final hours with his protégé; Grace Rowe moves from proud to pitiful as Estelle; Steve North is touchingly tender as steadfast Jo; Isabelle Joss all sound and fury as his wife. Nathan Guy, prancing atop the mantelpiece, is wonderfully comical as Herbert Pocket issuing instructions in gentlemanly conduct. Jack Ellis is darkly forbidding as Jaggers.

The dining table, platform for many declarations, becomes the boat in a mistily hypnotic river escapade, and the device for a sudden burst of flames as Miss Havisham meets her fate. Equally imaginative, the fireplace mirror plays its own reflective role in the tale.

Beautifully staged, wonderfully acted, this is a production not to be missed. Catch it tonight and tomorrow.