‘Great’ Expectations

One thing to know about the brilliant repertory theater of A Noise Within: When the Glendale-based company sets a season of plays, it does so around a conceptual theme.

In 1996, the theme was, according to co-artistic director Geoff Elliott, “reality, but not reality in the sense of naturalism. It’s reality in the sense of ‘my reality may not be the same as your reality.’ We billed the season as ‘Realitease,’ because reality does tease us. If you ask two people who saw the same event what happened, they’ll give you two different perspectives.”

As a centerpiece of that season, Elliott--with wife and co-director Julia Rodriguez Elliott, Art Manke and resident director Sabin Epstein--chose Barbara Fields’ adaptation of what is arguably Charles Dickens’ masterwork, “Great Expectations.” In its third annual visit, A Noise Within is bringing the touring version of this vivid slice of Dickensiana to the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Friday.

Unlike Alfonso Cuaron’s recent film version of the novel, adapted to 20th century America, Fields keeps her adaptation in 19th century England, streamlining it to three hours (as a commission for Seattle Children’s Theatre). Little was done to Fields’ text once A Noise Within took it on, except for minor amendments that restore some of Dickens’ dialogue.

The idea of multiple realities is especially vivid in terms of “Great Expectations.” Dickens’ tale of Pip--drawn from his own impoverished world to pretty Estella and her manipulative guardian, Miss Havisham--is “the story of a boy who thinks one thing is happening and then realizes to his devastation that it’s something else,” says Geoff Elliott, who co-directs the staging with his Julia.

The tease: Orange County theatergoers unwilling to make the trek to Glendale have one night each year to catch A Noise Within: a taste, but hardly the full menu of six repertory productions the company delivers each year.

The Elliotts have an answer for this bit of a tease. Says Geoff: “ ‘Great Expectations’ is a fine example of what we do, because I think we have some of the finest performers in the nation acting in this company. We have 10 actors playing 40 roles, a terrific example of actors having fun, making great transformations, turning on a dime, shifting from, for example, a young boy to a grown mature man in a matter of one scene.”

For Julia, such repertory acting within one show encapsulates precisely what A Noise Within is about: “This is what these actors are trained to do, but with us, it usually means going from a Shaw play one night to a Shepard play the next. With ‘Great Expectations,’ it’s that much more fun to see it in a single night.”

Behind the fun is a high-wire act. Most of the cast’s lead actors handle a single role--Donald Sage Mackay is Pip; Ann Marie Lee is Estella; Geoff Elliott is haunted ex-con Magwitch; Deborah Strang is Miss Havisham (and, in a brief scene, Miss Skiffins)--their cohorts juggle several.

“This can be tediously difficult,” Julia said, “especially in our small backstage area in our home theater, because some scenes are so short, and the physical transitions in costuming can be a real challenge.”

Because it is the only year-round classical ensemble in Southern California--and one of the few in North America--A Noise Within is in demand when not in production at its intimate Brand Boulevard space in Glendale. The lack of true repertory theater--a mainstay in theater-producing centers around the world--is a vacuum that, locally, the Mark Taper Forum tried, and failed, to fill long-term, and that South Coast Repertory has never intended to fill.

“We’re frankly very proud that, since 1992, when we began with ‘The Way of the World,’ we’ve been able to step in and fill a niche that’s so needed in a range of theater experience,” Geoff said. Filling the niche means going to cavernous venues such as El Camino College in the South Bay (as A Noise Within recently did), “which makes adjusting to the 756 seats of Irvine Barclay that much easier,” Julia said.

Irvine Barclay officials said box office has risen each year for the company’s visit, from a 68% sale for 1996’s “As You Like It” to 75% for 1997’s “The Winter’s Tale.” “Great Expectations” is projected to top that.

“Of all the spaces we tour,” Julia said, “I love the Irvine Barclay most of all because it’s an intimate, under-800 seat room, and because our work is made in an intimate environment; it translates well there.”

A Noise Within performs “Great Expectations” at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. Friday, 8 p.m. $18-$22. (714) 854-4646.