COLCHESTER’S Mercury Theatre will be staging performances of one of Charles Dickens’s best loved novels for the next two weeks.

Great Expectations, published in 1861 and considered a classic of Victorian literature, will be brought back to life at the Mercury with the first performance having taken place on Tuesday.

The production will then run until Sunday, after which there will be a two-day break before performances resume on Wednesday, May 24.

The final performance will take place on Saturday, May 27, with tickets on sale for prices ranging between £15 and £30.

Stanton Wright plays the main character, Pip, a blacksmith’s apprentice who comes into a large fortune from a mysterious benefactor.

The novel has been adapted for stage by Gale Childs Daly, and is directed by Ryan McBryde, the Mercury Theatre’s creative director.

The play will also see five narrators oversee the performance.

Following a major renovation in 2021, the Mercury Theatre – which was established as far back as 1937 – now has a capacity of 530 seats in the theatre and room for 96 in the studio.

Music and sound for the production has been composed by Stefan Janik.

Tickets can be bought via www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/great-expectations.