FOLLOWING a popular and critically-acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013, Dumbshow bring their brand new adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic novella The Pearl to Basingstoke's Central Studio.

This timeless fable concerns the allure of wealth, the confines of class and the redemptive power of love.

Let it make you question what you value most at the theatre on the QMC campus on Wednesday, October 1 at 7.30pm.

When impoverished pearl-diver Kino finds the ‘pearl of the world’ he believes his family’s life will be transformed forever.

Seduced by the pearl’s beauty and promise of riches, he is blind to the danger of possessing something that everyone else wants. Instead of bringing hope, the pearl leads Kino and his family down a dark and dangerous path.

Steinbeck’s story resonates strongly today as we reel from a financial crisis and begin to question anew whether money has become our master rather than our servant.

The Pearl is narrated by a chorus of beachcombers who construct the set and props from the sea’s washed-up debris and transform into all of the characters in the story, accompanied by an original music score created by composer and pianist Rollo Clarke.

Sam Gayton has adapted this original classic to produce a gripping and poetic script, faithful to Steinbeck’s story and spirit. Sam is a published author whose first novel The Snow Merchant made Amazon’s ‘Best of 2012’ list of the Top Ten Children’s books.

Dumbshow is an ensemble theatre company that has been working together for over six years and is committed to telling powerful stories that explore the human condition with wit, charm and emotional impact.

Tickets £12 full, £10 concessions, £8 students and children

Box office: centralstudio.co.uk, 01256 418318