For two solid hours, with an intermission brief enough not to break the spell, Eddie Izzard holds his audience rapt as kindergartners at story hour.
We all know the tale, of course – or think we do. There are a lot more wrinkles to the narrative than you might easily recall. The basics hold up from high school: Orphaned Pip helps out an escaped convict, meets the snotty Estella and pines for her, gets promoted to “gentleman” by an unknown benefactor, acquires the snobbery endemic to the nouveau riche, suffers a rude awakening as to the source of his good fortune.
But wait: There are many minute turns in this twisty tale, and you’ll be on the edge of your seat as Izzard plays out every plot divagation, nailing us with hypnotizing, kohl-rimmed Jean Harlow eyes and long incarnadine nails. The costume may be modified-Victorian (abbreviated frock-coat and ruffled blouse below a shock of peroxided hair, classic black lace-up boots) but Izzard’s males read as male, the females unexaggeratedly female. She even gets the child Pip right, without resorting to a piping voice or playing up his wide-eyed innocence.
In much the way that Dickens himself was a master of the quick character sketch (“a large hard-breathing man with a face like a fish” instantly conjures Uncle Pumblechook), Izzard shape-shifts in a blink. The trick, if you can call it that, is that she never relinquishes her own essence, even as she plays every last role, morphing with slight shifts in accent and affect. The variegated characters come through vividly, in flashes – sometimes in fast-forward mano a mano. The real throughline, though, is Izzard’s own unflagging intelligence. She’s got this story by the reins, and we’re lucky to travel along.
Izzard’s brother, Mark Izzard, deserves credit for a headlong condensation which encompasses all the crucial details and yet never lags. If school-day memories persist at all, we come in knowing that Miss Havisham – Izzard’s rendition sounds like a brittle, seen-it-all cosmopolitan, not a spectral-voiced shut-in – is not the source of Pip’s sudden upgrade in social class. Harder to recall are the various allies he accrues while pursuing the London high life and its attendant debts. But Izzard renders all due homage to each and every secondary and even tertiary character. He even dutifully thanks the imaginary servants who hand Pip the imaginary letters that steer the intricacies of plot – prompting a laugh every time.
Unlike Jefferson Mays’s technically enhanced rendering of A Christmas Carol on Broadway, this production is virtually devoid of special effects. Great swaths of red-velvet curtains (Tom Piper designed the set as well as costumes); the occasional interpolation of some haunting airs (music by Eliza Thompson); sensitive lighting (Tyler Elich occasionally replicates the footlights of Dickens’ own era) – these are all the elements it takes to transport us to the desolate marshes, the bustling city, the churning Thames. Just those few deft touches – plus Izzard’s supreme artistry.
Eddie Izzard Performing Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations opened December 15, 2022, at the Greenwich House Theatre and runs through February 11, 2023. Tickets and information: eddieizzardgreatexpectations.com
