The Gate's tradition of staging a Christmas adaptation seems to have run out of steam. Dickens' novel is a challenge for any dramatist: how can a stage adaptation of less than three hours be more than a gallop through the plot's twists and coincidences? Revived from 1995, Hugh Leonard's version uses the neat device of the young Pip and the older Pip telling their story in tandem. But as this theatricality doesn't extend to the rest of Alan Stanford's staging, it seems perfunctory.
The visual flair required to evoke the novel's different worlds, from the Kent marshes of Pip's boyhood to Miss Havisham's mansion and the seething streets of Victorian London, is sadly lacking. The bareness of Bruno Schwengel's white set would matter less if it were used as a backdrop for a choreographed spectacle. Instead, a white gauze curtain passes back and forth awkwardly, bisecting the stage, while many scenes are played up against the proscenium arch: Joe Gargery's household is squashed downstage throughout.
Shying away from Dickens' extreme characterisations, the cast seem underpowered. While Young Pip (Jack Gleeson) is full of shining anticipation, his adult self (Adam Fergus) is hampered by a stilted accent, as Pip masks his humble origins. Without a truly creepy setting, Donna Dent's elegant Miss Havisham looks as if she has been experimenting with white face powder, rather than someone whose existence has frozen into a ghostly tableau. Vignettes from Mark O'Regan, Murray McArthur, Mal Whyte and Robert O'Mahoney bring welcome grotesque shades. Their comic energy is echoed by the two Pips as they knowingly consult the end of the novel. But while all the narrative loose ends are wrapped up, expectations - even fair to middling - are unfulfilled.
· Until February 2. Box office: 003531 8744045.
