A youth theatre director has Great Expectations for the company’s latest production.

Youth Music Theatre will be reviving an adaptation of Dickens’ classic tale, directed by a clown who claims the story offers the perfect opportunity for play.

Gerry Flanagan, director of the show, said: “There is a very emotional heart in the story of Pip, Joe and Estella, mainly with those two but with others also.

“It is quite playful, but it is not about us making fun of it but trying to find a refreshing way of telling the story again.”

Having adapted the story for the stage, Mr Flanagan said he had to sift through the weighty novel to highlight its key elements.

The company has already performed an adaptation of the book in 2007, but Mr Flanagan says that audiences should expect an entirely refreshing production.

Surrey Comet:

Gerry Flanagan is the artistic director of Shifting Sands Theatre and has taught clown and other subjects for almost 20 years at universities and schools.

He said: “It is a revival of a show we did about five or six years ago, a Dickens novel.

“We adopt a very playful approach to the work. The book is written in the first person, and it is all about Pip’s point of view. We use this as an opportunity for everyone in this cast to tell the story.

“It is a two-way quota to do with the way the actors respond and what they bring to it as well. It was devised with the previous company, which we are bringing fresh to this production. But we still have to discover it with them. There are many new things that have to be discovered.”

Great Expectations; the Rose Theatre, High Street, Kingston; August 29 – September 1, 2.30pm, 3pm, 7.30pm; £10-22; call: 08444 821556 or visit rosetheatrekingston.org.