The tale is set in the industrial town of Lancashire, England, in the 1840s. Bradford Cover makes Bounderby, the arrogant factory owner and banker, properly nasty, and he has another turn as the seducer Harthouse. Rachel Botchan, playing a number of roles, marries Bounderby in her part as Louisa, not because she loves him, but because she has been educated by her schoolmaster father Gradgrind (J. T. Edwards) to deal with “facts, facts, facts” and the facts are that Bounderby can provide her with a comfortable life. Her brother Tom (Sean McNall) is tragically saddled with the fact of having gone into debt because of his gambling.

Robin Leslie Brown has plenty of scenery to chew in one of her colorful roles—that of Mrs. Sparsit, Bounderby’s housekeeper. Edwards, in addition to playing Gradgrind and a waiter, is extremely moving as Blackpool, who doesn’t believe in joining the union fighting for the workers and his shunned by his fellow factory employees. Caught in the middle, Blackpool is also fired by Bounderby, and then falsely accused of bank robbery. Jolly Abraham also excels in a series of parts.

One of the most moving scenes is a union meeting in which the stakes are laid out, with passionate speeches about the plight of workers with their long hours, hard jobs and low pay. The scene is done so well that an audience can feel present at a real union gathering. In yet another emotional sequence, Botchan as Louisa has a fine scene in which she explodes with an expression of her plight in life.

Throughout the Dickens narrative is covered by the various actors interrupting their characterizations to recite passages that advance the story. This is done with great smoothness so that the device blends easily with the enactment and adds to the amazing sweep the staging manages to convey. All of this is accomplished economically on a small stage with minimal but effective scenery credited to Jo Winiarski. There are multiple changes of period costume as designed by Devon Painter.