Holy Trinity Church, Guildford.
18 February 2026.
Seated at a table with a fabulous view of the stage in this impressively intimate setting within the church for the Guildford Shakespeare Company’s production of David Copperfield, I notice the occupants of another table are tucking into a full cheese board and sharing a bottle of wine before we start!
David Copperfield has been a smash hit in London, and now finally comes home to Guildford. Matt Pinches, co-founder of Guildford Shakespeare Company, gives a concise welcome and breakdown of today’s relaxed performance which is to include slightly reduced sound levels and natural daylight for the audience – who were also told they were welcome to move around and make noise if needed.
The simple yet detailed scenery includes a free-standing backdrop not unlike a huge room divider. It has opaque panels through which light seeps depicting time of day and mood. A tall-backed chair, hat hooked on its corner, a pile of suitcases ranging in size, a kite hooked to the panes; they’re all picked up as props at various times throughout. And two doors within the frame are used for frequent entrances on and off stage, opening and closing them as effective scene changes.
In this Charles Dickens’ adaptation, the reasonably complicated tale was told with humour from the outset; Eddy Payne, playing David Copperfield, made his entrance holding himself as a baby, announcing, “I am born!” following the sounds of labour from off stage. And here we are introduced to the swift and visually engaging way we were to be swept along amidst the great natural acoustics in the church building.
While child David (Payne played him at all ages) stood on a trunk – the maid Peggotty putting his hat on – other trunks were quickly slid across to line up with his, and in seconds the two of them dropped to sit on them, bouncing up and down in a horse and carriage. Moments of charming and believable make-believe such as this example were scattered throughout.
There were three actors in total, with Luke Barton and Louise Beresford playing a total of 18 rich and colourful characters between them. Their continual switching of costumes and personas from scene to scene was rapid, sometimes done off, sometimes on stage. Each of the three took it in turns to narrate and whoever that was seamlessly interacted with dialogue that followed. Once we were familiar with them all, on occasions when multiple characters were needed at the same time, Barton and Beresford held space for them by holding the hats of additional characters at the relevant height and action continued – clever, and very entertaining!
The ingenious way David Copperfield’s stepfather Mr Murdstone was portrayed needs noting; his coat and top hat were held at height by Barton, who provided his voice. He was cruel to both David and his mother, and adult David looking back couldn’t remember exactly how he looked, so this faceless imposing bully flying around the stage was perfect. Interacting with him, Beresford, as David’s mother put one arm inside the sleeve of Mr Murdstone’s coat and held her own face in a grip. Extremely effective technique.
Barton, in particular, thrilled as he embodied his many characters, with fresh mannerisms, idiolect and gait for each, never overlapping one to the other, though it must have been hard at times to remember which character was which! Greatly enjoyed by the audience was the shifty Mr Micawber (played by Barton), prone to over-exaggeration, sob-stories and stretching it to the limits as he appealed to the others, and the ominous Headmaster, who towered over Beresford and David as students by standing on a trunk, with an overflowing long black cloak.
The three actors successfully created changing atmosphere and feeling onstage between the relevant characters, whether that was fear, playfulness or concern. The complex plot and complexity – though enjoyable – of the ever-changing roles, meant that Act 1 felt quite long, and a breather could have been useful a bit earlier.
Act Two picked up an even faster pace as the plot thickened and then eventually set right. With a reasonable amount of sad events and death littered through the story, a warm highlight came in spotting the chemistry between Agnes and David and waiting patiently for them to eventually come together, which they did. And a touching and calming last scene saw David alone on stage narrating the final parts of the storyline, including the fates of all the others, and over his shoulder in the doorway stood Agnes his wife, smiling at him and cradling their child. He followed her and closed the door on the empty stage. Just right.
By Louise Ryrie of Dance Informa.
