THE south-west of England has a particularly rich heritage of community plays – Dorchester has mounted seven, a record number. Increasingly, large theatres are commissioning plays for a vast cast of performers, usually with a professional production team and an amateur cast keen for the chance to make friends and perform on big stages, with all their history and cutting edge technology.

When Bath’s beautiful Theatre Royal announced it would stage a community version of the Charles Dickens classic, David Copperfield, excitement was high. Mike Akers had been invited to write a new version of the timeless story, and Sally Cookson would return to Bath to direct. Ti Green would design a set to hold the company and convey all the locations of the action. John O’Hara would compose music and lyrics.

The company would work together to devise the final script, and all were welcome to take part, regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, experience and abilities … a truly inclusive company to bring the story of the orphan cast out by his family and finding his way through a difficult life, to a hopeful conclusion.

The Olivier award winning director decided to add the words “a life” to the title, emphasising the universal nature of the human experience, perhaps particularly relevant at a time when we are all encouraged to believe we are the only people who have ever had bad times and unhappiness.

The astonishing finished product, to which Her Majesty Queen Camilla got a sneak preview, filled the stage and the auditorium on Friday night. More than 100 actors played multiple roles, seven of them as David Copperfield at different stages of his life, but everyone involved identifying with the hero and his trials, tribulations and triumphs.

To get such a huge company choreographed and choir-eographed was a massive feat. At the same time, with clever use of the auditorium gangways and stairs, the entire audience was swept into the action. Various characters had their moments centre stage, vividly brought to life by colourfully-costumed actors, every one of them totally committed to the enterprise.

Dickens’ moving, humorous and very human story was unforgettably told in this extraordinary show.

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Photographs by Lloyd Evans