Dickens' 'Great Expectations' at Appleseed blends themes of
mystery and maturing  on July 21, 2013 at 11:29 AM, updated July
21, 2013 at 2:13 PM  Charles Dickens' novel "Great Expectations"
has a wide appeal, partly because it depicts a young person
living in the middle of a mystery and making character-forming
decisions at the same time.  Appleseed Productions winds down
its season with a performance of Barbara Field's stage
adaptation of Dickens' work.  CJ Young directs the huge cast,
mixing highly skilled actors with those having less experience.
At the center of the story is Pip (Hunter Siegel-Cook as child
Pip, and Carlos Clemenz as older Pip). He is a poor lad, a
blacksmith's apprentice. But a mysterious benefactor provides
money for Pip to leave the forge, be raised as a gentleman, and
eventually come into an inheritance.  In England's class-
conscious social order, that means that Pip will cross a big
divide, from a nobody to a gentleman.  Pip thus has "great
expectations," and he cannot help wonderin