SHIFTING Sands return to a national tour with a vivid recreation of Charles Dickens' classic Great Expectations in Chipping Norton in April.

In this visual feast of clowning and storytelling theatre, three actors create a show that is invigorating, comic and heart-breaking in which members of the audience become collaborators in the creation of Pip's world.

Three Dickens aficionados, innocent clowns, are on a quest across the marshes to find the birthplace of Great Expectations. In a misty graveyard they find themselves sucked into Pip's world and find themselves recreating the entire book. They play with Dickens' ingredients yet remain faithful to his themes. There are mistakes and irreverence but no parody.

Director and performer Gerry Flanagan was co-founder and joint artistic director of Commotion Theatre Company, which developed a reputation for innovative clown theatre.

Flanagan's theatre credits include Theatre de Complicite, David Glass ensemble and London Bubble Theatre Company and he is one of the United Kingdom's most sought-after teachers of clown. Shifting Sands has grown out of his work.

Shifting Sands, founded in 1998, creates inventive, accessible and visually spectacular theatre that is both moving and stimulating, renowned for bringing a clown's eye view to epic tales and classic texts.

Great Expectations is at The Theatre, Chipping Norton on Thursday, April 6 at 8pm. Box office 01608 642350.