"Bleak Expectation" by Mark Evans.

Lace Market Theatre Youth Group.

Lace Market Theatre.

This is the story Charles Dickens might have written after drinking too much gin. 

It follows half-orphan Pip's extraordinary exploits with sisters Pippa and Poppy and best friend Harry Biscuit, as they try to escape the clutches of the dastardly Mr Gently Benevolent, defeat the hideous Hardthrasher siblings, and deflect disaster at every turn! 

Mark Evans' stage play "Bleak Expectations" is an hilarious, chaotic caper, featuring dastardly villains, preposterous names, pulse-quickening romances, heart-rending death scenes, and definitely, probably, hopefully a happy ending. It's also incredibly silly and I loved it.

Based on the award-winning BBC Radio 4 series, there is absolutely no use me trying to go into depth with what happens with these characters because I would not be doing justice to the play, the story, the author or indeed, the young and incredibly talented actors.

It would also be unfair for me to pick out any of the cast as being better than the other, but heigh ho, life's not fair so I will anyway.

Noah Ash (Sir Philip Put That In The Bin) is a mouth droppingly brilliant young actor who is going to grow into an incredibly good character actor. He must also have a memory like a sponge due to the amount of script he had to learn and deliver, and deliver it he did with a wonderful sense of comedy timing and physicality, especially in his face. Not that easy when he has a big black moustache to contend with. Sir Phillip is also the narrator of the play regaling us with his personal history.

Jay Durbacz (Pip Bin) is on stage a big chunk of the time and is a young man, like Noah, who is going to be a wonderful character actor, because he is just that at this stage of his stage career. Pip is Sir Philip as a young man, and our hero. Naïve, idealistic, and true, Pip's dramatic rising and falling in fortune, safety, and security (mostly at the hand of the evil Mr Benevolent) are the subject of Sir Philip's story.

Most of the rest of the cast share their roles so I will mention the actors who performed on Thursday night's performance. I am sure the actors who perform on other days are just as regimented and disciplined in the delivery of these brilliant characters as Thursday's cast.

Amelie McKiernan-Haynes (Agnes Bin) is the mother of the three Bin children and married to Thomas Bin. I won't give anything away about the mother but to say that throughout this comedy she also thinks that she is a French horse, a cat, and a Cockney carpenter.

Joel Walker (Thomas Bin), is the Father who leaves the family to earn his fortune, and while he succeeds in doing this, the future for him is not so rosy....

Jess Erwin-Jones plays Pip's sister, (Pippa Swing Top Wheelie Bin). Pippa channels her energies into era-appropriate pursuits such as charities and social causes.

Tilly Plant plays Pip and Pippa's younger sister, (Poppy Bin).

Rory Squire (Skinflint Parsimonious). ironically an extremely generous and giving character, Pip's father's dearest friend and business advisor.

Viola Hiebert (Gently Benevolent), Pip's former guardian and the most evil man in the world; his massively complicated evil plans are designed both to conquer the world and to personally make Pip as miserable as possible.

Vivien Hughes (Bakewell Havertwitch) is the play's version of Magwitch, who of course is helped by Pip near the start and returns later in the play to repay his kindness.

Sonny Hale (Harry Biscuit), and is impressively loyal, impulsively brave, and irrepressibly cheerful, but also incurably dim. The son of the man who invented the biscuit, Harry is anxious to prove himself as an inventor in his own right. His attempts to aid Pip usually occur in the form of pointlessly complicated devices, most of which are inspired by his obsession with swans! Sonny is another marvellous physical actors and has a lovely feel for comedy and has excellent timing.

Kinsey Phillips (Reverend Praygood Hardthrasher), Raya Harris (Miss Chastity Hardthrasher), Edgar Shelton (Headmaster Wackwell Hardthrasher) and Mathilda Rose (Judge Solomon Hardthrasher), all serve as accomplices to the evil Mr. Benevolent, all trying to serve as barriers in Pip's happiness and future.

Jacob Holt (Broadly Fecund), Ripely's father and a priest. He is the father of many daughters with a wife who died, and after a mysterious message from God was told how to ensure that his eldest daughter, Ripely gets to look after him in his old age.

Charlotte Carter (Ripely Deliciously Tempting Fecund). Ripely was raised to believe she was horrifically ugly since being disfigured in a buffet accident when she was three years old. Her marriage with Pip is marked by her insatiable libido. Charlotte needs no diagrams to show what a lovely comic actor she is.

Kiah Harrison (Flora Dies-Early). Flora is Pip's first wife. His courting of her is seriously hampered by her governess Miss Chastity Hardthrasher who would not allow any direct interaction between them. She (shockingly) dies early, but how?

Alex Hort (Lily),  Pip's aunt, and Agnes's twin sister. 

Directed by Benjamin Dixon, assisted by Malcolm Todd and Ian Smith. I can only imagine the fun this trio have had with these young actors in this play. That said, there is so much going on in this intricate play, it could also have been a nightmare to direct. Whatever the correct answer, and it may be a mix of both options, they have given us a production that is so very different to anything that I have seen in the past, and I love the works of Charles Dickens, and will remain in my memory for a very long time as one of the best comedies I've seen... ever!

It is very cleverly written with so many one liners that you need to listen so carefully to get every comic line in, and they do come very fast, and often with a side of cheese and corn. There are lines relevant to today's various situations i.e. the train situation and even the Lace Market bar. There's also a scene that shows what Dickensian selfies may have been like! 

The set design is by Steve Musson and is well worth getting in the theatre just a bit earlier to take in the work that has gone into the set creation. A work of art.

Lighting Design is by Allan Green, who delivers his usual high standard of illumination.

Sound Design is by Benjamin Dixon and operated by Gareth Morris, Philip Hogarth, David Billen and Matt Allcock. The cues for all the sound effects are bang on cue, and the injection of modern music makes certain sections of the play even funnier; probably because the songs were not expected. Who could predict a Dickensian soundtrack to include Lionel Richie, Cliff Richard, The Carpenters, Keith, and Wagner?

Stage Managed by Jess Brown. With the size of this cast, Jess had her hands full, but Jess obviously has well organised and talented hands, because the stage management was smooth and timely.

The costumes are thanks to Sue Roberts and Marie Morehen. Sir Phillip's costume alone won me over from the start, and then came costume after costume, all of which were incredibly good and apt for the era.

This play really is an unexpected treat and will go down, for me, as one of the funniest things that I have seen on stage. And all this from such a young and ridiculously talented cast. With their timing and comic ability at this time in their theatrical career, I can confidently say that the future of local theatre is in very safe hands. And who knew that something we use on a daily basis sprung from the imagination of someone called Bin! What an education it's been for me, and I love a theatre show that is entertaining and educational.

"Bleak Expectations" is at the Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham until Saturday 23 March. It really exceeded all of my expectations, and your week will be bleak without seeing this perfect production.

Photography courtesy of Kareena Sims.