When Neil Murray announced his decision to tour an adaptation of Dickens' Great Expectations, the country's venues were unanimous in their surprise.

What was Northern Stage, an ensemble company renowned for its stylised and highly physical theatre, doing with this hefty English classic?

"In the past we've done things like Animal Farm, Clockwork Orange and Nineteen Eighty Four - very heavy, masculine, aggressive works," says Murray.

"We wanted to move on and I think this marks a shift in our work towards acting, with very complete characterisations.

But I think with Dickens people expect a very straight presentation - and that's never going to be what we do."

The story of a poor young man raised high above his station by a mysterious benefactor and a beautiful young woman schooled in the art of cruelty, Dickens' novel opens on Pip's marshland encounter with the escaped convict Magwitch before following him into adulthood.

This adaptation, produced by John Clifford, tells the events of Pip's life in flashback, beginning at the late Miss Havisham's Satis House, where Estella is urging him to fling open the shutters and cast off the past.

"Emotionally, it's very strong," observes Murray, whose research revealed a pleasing link between Northern Stage and Great Expectations - the proud, manipulative Estella was actually based on Newcastle actress Nelly Ternan, with whom Dickens had a long secret affair.

"The themes are very recognisable, very human," he says. "The idea of wanting to do well, of wanting to move in to a higher sphere and of falling horribly in love with someone who doesn't love you. All that makes it very accessible."

Putting furniture to unconventional use, having the cast fill in for props and projecting moody skyscapes on to ghostly gauze, Murray is able to move from the nightmarish atmosphere of the marshes or the excitable bustle of Victorian London to the decaying gothic magnificence of Satis House.

"We have an enormous chandelier for those scenes," says Murray. "The problem is, it's so seriously enormous, I don't know whether it'll actually fit into the Gardner."

Starts at 7.30pm, Fri mat 1.30pm. Tickets cost £14/£7, call 01273 685861.