You’re a dead man if they find you.
Step back in time to 19th-century London, where intrigue and mystery mix in the world premiere of Jack Maggs. Peter Carey’s best-selling and Miles Franklin Award-winning “reworking” of Charles Dickens’ canonical novel Great Expectations. Jack Maggs comes alive on stage in a sweeping new adaptation by South Australian playwright Samuel Adamson, renowned for his successes at England’s National Theatre with Southwark Fair and The Light Princess with Tori Amos.

“Peter Carey’s Jack Maggs is a monumental Australian novel about England, about storytelling, about identity, about the brutality of transportation, about generational trauma, about Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations,” says Adamson. “I’ve loved it since it was first published in 1997. I love its beautiful, bruised characters. I love the way it both ridicules and honours Dickens. I love its big heart. I can’t wait to bring it to the stage in Adelaide this November with Geordie Brookman and our wonderful cast. Join us – it’s a great yarn.”
The story follows the enigmatic ex-convict Jack Maggs (Carey’s version of Magwitch) returning to London from Australia and embarking on a relentless quest to find his ‘son’ Henry Phipps, who has mysteriously disappeared. Maggs soon becomes entangled in the web of Phipps’ neighbour, Percy Buckle and his bizarre household, where he makes a deal with young novelist and “mesmerist” Tobias Oates (or is it Charles Dickens himself?) to find Phipps. Oates has other plans though, and in Maggs, might just find the perfect inspiration for his new novel.
Unveil a world of ambition, secrets and unexpected alliances, with a cast of beloved and celebrated South Australian actors including Mark Saturno (The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?, A View from the Bridge) as Jack Maggs, James Smith (Euphoria, Girl From The North Country) as Tobias Oates, Jacqy Philips (Mr Burns, a Post-Electric Play), Rachel Burke (The Dictionary of Lost Words), Dale March (A View from the Bridge), newcomer and recent Elder Conservatorium Graduate Jelena Nicdao and fresh from The Puzzle Ahunim Abebe and Nathan O’Keefe.
Under the masterful direction of former Artistic Director, Geordie Brookman, and detailed design of Ailsa Paterson, Jack Maggs will take audiences on a strange and surprising slither around the Old Dart with a cavalcade of dazzling Dickensian characters all in search of the truth, in the most exciting page to stage adaption since The Dictionary of Lost Words.
“We’re creatures of narrative and Dickens was one of our master storytellers. His work feeds a desire for memorable characters and atmospheric worlds centred around stories that never fail to cut to the heart of our core ethical dilemmas,” says Brookman. “The treat with bringing Jack Maggs to the stage is that we get to layer this Dickensian world with Carey’s keen sense for how fictions can layer on top of each other and Sam’s finely tuned sense of theatrical invention.”
“Peter Carey’s narrative rushes like a great stream towards a glittery fall, gathering momentum as it rolls.” – The Boston Globe
“Wildly entertaining.” – New York Review of Books
“Samuel Adamson writes the best dialogue I’ve ever read or had the pleasure to direct. It’s metropolitan, quick- witted, alive with internal tensions, graceful, lightweight and profound.” – Dominic Dromgoole, Former Artistic Director, Shakespeare’s Globe
Jack Maggs is at the Dunstan Playhouse from 15 – 30 November 2024
Tickets available from statetheatrecompany.com.au