Bleak Expectations

It was  lovely to return to The Dylan Thomas for the second  time in 2024 to see  Swansea Little Theatre’s production of Bleak Expectations by Mark Evans.

It is a comedy play by Mark Evans based on his BBC Radio 4 series of the same name. This was a totally different genre to my last visit to this company and not having heard the radio series I was interested to know what was in store.

This type of play is very difficult to perform and the company took a different slant on it by casting female actors to male roles.

I was very impressed with the set designed by Molly Clery and felt it worked really well.

The cast of 10 took on multiple roles in the production and on the whole had a very good relationship with one another.

Sir Philip Bin /Narrator was played by Sandra Miller who ensured the flow of the play interacting greatly with the audience. 

Victoria Hinds took the role of Pip Bin, a very substantial role for her as well as playing a man. Victoria did well in her role with good interaction with other cast members.

The proverbial baddie role was played by Tim Pottinger who doubled up with Gently Benevolent and Harlan J Trashcan. I liked Tim’s performance especially the segment when he was sitting in the audience, and even though I dont know if it was planned, I thought the door business at the start of the play was really funny.

Sally Woodward again gave a polished performance as the Hardthrashers.

The remaining roles were played by Lisa Ludbrook, Rowan Watson, Rachel Dineen-Mabe, Lianne Halliday, Alex Sheldon with Cate Harvey playing the glove.

The play doesn't take itself seriously and is a total send up of the Dickensian era, with baguette swordfights, a cat as an inkwell and death by bin and penguins, the play also has some funny one liners.

Thank you once again to the company for the invitation and best wishes for the remainder of 2024.

 

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