WE all have our image of Miss Havisham, the jilted bride, bitter in her dark, cobweb-filled mansion, in her ageing wedding dress with the wedding breakfast crumbling on the table … but what really happened?

Actress, writer and producer Heather Alexander brings one of Charles Dickens’ iconic characters from Great Expectations to life in her one-woman show, coming to Dorset for three dates with Artsreach, from 17th to 19th January.

Havisham, presented by Emul8 Theatre, begins the short tour at Chetnole village hall on Friday 17th, followed by Ibberton on Saturday and Burton Bradstock on Sunday, all beginning at 7.30pm.
The scene is set in 1825. After reliving traumatic memories from her childhood, a young woman, arrives in London, full of hope and ready to embrace a fresh start. However, she soon finds herself as “the leading lady in drama she can’t comprehend.”

The gaslighting is subtle, the manipulation slick. Can Miss Havisham discern her fate? Or is she destined to relive the devastation of her trauma?

This new one-woman play offers a fresh perspective on Dickens’ extraordinary Gothic characterisation of Miss Havisham, in Great Expectations. We know her as the embodiment of stuck trauma and malignant rage – but how did she arrive at this place and what are the tragic secrets of her calamitous past?