Great Expectations (Royal Shakespeare Company version)

One of a pair of spectacular Christmas shows from the RSC: a new dramatisation of Dickens by one of our leading directors. "Great Expectations" is one of Dickens's best-loved novels - and, say some critics, his greatest. Covering the story of one man's life - with many autobiographical elements - it tackles big questions of identity while mustering a cast of unforgettable characters, chief amongst them Miss Havisham and Joe Gargery. This brand new dramatisation is the RSC's mainstage Christmas Show, following in the footsteps of "Beauty and the Beast" (also in NHB), which was so successful it played two years running. Declan Donnellan has a huge reputation for exciting work in the theatre. He took his company, "Cheek by Jowl," to worldwide prominence, and his solo career has encompassed gound-breaking Shakespeare as well as modern work. His book, "The Actor and the Target," re-published this season, has outsold all others on the NHB list.