Do we really need a Glasgow version of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations? For his 40th and departing production as director, Andy Arnold and his Tron Theatre company make a strong case for a cheeky, verging-on-gallus cultural re-nose of this classic tale of misunderstood wealth and mysterious benefactors. A timeless story of class conflict, it truly lends itself to pawky Glesga humour, from a script adapted by Gary McNair (some way ‘after Charles Dickens’) which makes the big emotional moments count but also sends itself up nicely.

Arnold sticks to the classic story beats: Pip (Gavin Jon Wright) and Joe (Simon Donaldson) make nails on their forge and enjoy some larks until Pip runs into ex-convict Magwitch (Gerry Mulgrew) escaping the prison hulks. The production is kept in period Dickensian garb, although there are sweet anachronisms like Miss Havisham (Karen Dunbar) singing a couplet from ‘Copacabana’, Barry Manilow’s tale of romantic missed opportunity (Dunbar makes for a wonderfully blowsy Havisham, and her blazing exit is quite something to behold).

The shifting of gears works throughout; self-awareness creeps in with a knowing pub quiz plus self-deprecating comic asides about extras offstage that the audience must imagine due to ‘budget’ restrictions. The doubling and tripling up of key roles provide ample opportunities for a versatile cast to shine. Jamie Marie Leary is as haughty as Estella as her Mrs Joe is brow-beatingly down-to-earth; Donaldson manages quite a transformation switching between humble Joe and pretentious Kelvin Pocket; and Mulgrew makes a fearsome Magwitch while Grant Smeaton’s Mr Pumblechook is a classic Glasgow snob. As a cover version of a beloved narrative front-loaded with iconic scenes, Arnold and his company breathe real life and laughs into this freewheeling, inventive adaptation that’s every bit as great as you might expect.  

Nae Expectations, Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until Saturday 4 November.