PL AYBILL great expectations
GREAT EXPECTATIONS CHARLES DICKENS, ADAPTED BY MICHAEL SHAMATA }{
a pproxim at e ru n ni ng t im e: 2 hou rs a nd 35 m i nu t es t h er e w ill be one 20 m i nu t e i n t er m ission
TIDBITS
ARTIST NOTE: JEFF LILLICO Well. Wow. We’ve just completed our second week of rehearsal and it’s very clear to me that I’ve never played a role of such scope, as my character Pip ages from a boy of seven into his mid-thirties. I have very few concrete memories from the age of seven, and to think of the circumstances in my life that have shaped me since is enough to boggle the mind. What an astounding gift, to be so challenged, in the company of such incredible actors, with Michael Shamata’s beautiful adaptation and under his deft direction. As Pip makes good and bad choices along his journey, so too have I. As Pip is touched by the grace of souls too generous and true to comprehend, so too have I been, throughout every stage of my life. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to examine the enormous breadth of choices and chances that conspire to make a life and, as I believe is Pip’s greatest wish in sharing his story, to attempt to honour the miracle of the people with whom our lives are shared. I can’t wait to share this experience with this remarkable company and with all of you as our journeys now briefly converge, here amidst the bricks of the Distillery.•
JEFF LILLICO, Pip in Great Expectations
Some quotes from Great Expectations, the novel: • I
must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.
• S pring
is the time of year when it's summer in the sun and winter in the shade.
• T he
broken heart. You think you will die, but you just keep living, day after day after terrible day.
• S cattered
wits take a long time in picking up.
• T ake
the pencil and write under my name, ‘I forgive her.’
• A
most excellent man, though I could have wished his trousers not quite so tight in some places and not quite so loose in others.
A Canadian connection: Dickens’ son Frank spent many years with the North West Mounted Police in Canada – banished to the colonies because of his hopeless relationship with money.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
CREATIVE TEAM
CAS T Jeff Lillico
John Jarvis
Phillip Pirrip [Pip]
Uncle Pumblechook
Oliver Becker
Orlick
John Jarvis
Young Biddy
Abel Magwitch Compeyson
Oliver Dennis
Joe Gargery
Deborah Drakeford
Mrs. Joe
Paolo Santalucia Naomi Agard
Leah Doz
Biddy
C. David Johnson
Sergeant
Jesse Aaron Dwyre Soldier
Kate Trotter
Miss Havisham
Naomi Agard
Young Estella
Jesse Aaron Dwyre Sarah Pocket
Paolo Santalucia
Camilla Pocket
John Jarvis
Raymond Pocket
Leah Doz
Estella
C. David Johnson
Mr. Jaggers
Oliver Dennis
Mr. Wemmick
Deborah Drakeford
Molly
John Jarvis
The Aged Parent
Paolo Santalucia
Herbert Pocket
Jesse Aaron Dwyre
Bentley Drummle
Production Michael Shamata
Adaptor & Director
Shawn Kerwin
Michael Laird
Sound Designer
Gillian Gallow
Set & Costume Designer
Assistant Set & Costume Designer
Steven Hawkins
Simon Fon
Lighting Designer
Fight Director
Diane Pitbldo
Dialect Coach
Krista Blackwood
Stage Manager
Ashlyn Ireland
Susanne Lankin
Rehearsal Assistant Stage Manager
Kelly McEvenue
Alexander Coach
A ssistant Stage Manager
Leslie McBay, Alexander Overton
Katarzyne Chopican
Tracy Taylor
Child Supervisors
SOULPEPPER PRODUC T ION Jacqueline Robertson-Cull
Head of Hair & Makeup
Erika Connor
Wardrobe Coordinator & Wig Crew
Tracy Glass Cutter
Millinery
Gulay Cokgezen, Ina Kerklann, Barbara Nowakowski
Dresser
Stitchers
Isidra Cruz
Props Buyer
Lisa Summers
Scenic Painter
Greg Chambers
Props Builder
s p e c i a l t h a n k s: dav i d koe k s t r a & v i v i a n tob i n
Great Expectations, adapted by Michael Shamata, is produced through arrangement with Catalyst TCM Toronto.
i l l u s t r at ion : b r i a n r e a
BACKGROUND NOTES
“ Life is not fair but it is still good”
G
reat Expectations was Charles Dickens’ thirteenth novel. At the height of his powers and “in the afternoon of his fame,” the celebrated, wealthy author was still haunted by the poverty of his upbringing. The period before he wrote this novel was marked by turbulence and change. He’d separated from his wife and taken up – some say – with a much younger actress. He’d moved from the bustle of London to a country estate called Gad’s Hill, a place he’d dreamed of owning as a boy. But his remarkable work ethic held: he wrote Great Expectations in monthly instalments between December 1860 and August 1861 for the periodical All the Year Round.
Critics were not universally positive but when they liked it, they exploded with superlatives. An early review in The Atlantic, for example, foams at the mouth even about the title: apparently it “indicates the confidence of conscious genius.” Dickens himself referred to David Copperfield (which came out a couple of years prior) as his “favourite child” and Expectations as his best work. Expectations, like Copperfield, is a coming of age story, told in the first person by the hero, Pip, a poor orphan who lives with his sister. Pip has no particular expectations at first: he has no hope of rising beyond his station, certainly. But over the course of a whole life many things can happen. In due time, Pip experiences the great expectations of the title, when he receives a completely unexpected inheritance from an anonymous benefactor. The novel is full of artfully arranged surprises like this. In 1861, The Atlantic said each turn of the story gives “pleasing electric shocks.” We never see them coming, but they are always believable and deeply satisfying. Many of Dickens’ cherished themes return here: crime, social class, empire and ambition. As with Copperfield, the story is a delicious web of intrigue and autobiographical detail, though Expectations is a more intimate and spiritual – rather than literal – reflection of the author’s life. The story – and this adaptation – showcase Dickens’ “clear and minute power of accurate observation” as well as his remarkable ability to create unforgettable characters. Great Expectations has been called a
representative fable of the age, but surely from its tender heart and twisty plot, to its sharp humour and acute examination of relationships and what they mean to us, this is a representative fable of any age. There’s nothing like a great story brilliantly told, after all.•
Au thor Biography Charles Dickens was born into poverty in 1812. He was a child labourer in a blacking factory, an experience (among many) that made him a crusader for social justice all his life. He began writing as a journalist (nom de plume: “Boz”) in 1833 and became an overnight sensation in 1836 with the publication of The Pickwick Papers. The same year he married. He gradually produced 10 children and 15 books – especially remarkable given that his celebrity had him travelling around the world and lecturing, as well as dabbling in theatre. He died in 1870, after putting in a full day’s work. His books are all still in print.•
Adaptor Biography Michael Shamata was born in Toronto prior to the Diefenbaker era. He is a versatile theatre artist, having studied design and been a crackerjack stage manager before moving full time into directing. He was Artistic Director of Theatre New Brunswick in the Mulroney years and helmed the Grand Theatre, London in the Chrétien era. There he took up the pen and wrote acclaimed adaptations of A Christmas Carol (a Soulpepper tradition) and Great Expectations as well as co-adapting The Secret Garden and Dracula with Paula Wing. He has directed numerous productions across the country. Since 2007, he has been the Artistic Director of the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, B.C.•
Tidbits and Background Notes by Paula Wing
THANK YOU FOR AT TENDING!
416 866 8666 soulpepper.ca Young Centre for the Performing Arts Toronto Distillery Historic District
Soulpepper Theatre Company is an active member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (pact), the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (tapa) and Theatre Ontario, and engages, under the terms of the Canadian Theatre Agreement, professional artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. Scenic Artists and Set Decorators employed by Soulpepper Theatre Company are represented by Local 828 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. •
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