AN ADAPTATION of a classic novel is coming back to Dorset.

Artsreach is delighted to welcome Townsend Theatre Productions’s acclaimed actor, writer and musician Neil Gore back to Dorset this autumn with Robert Tressell’s 1914 classic novel, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

It comes to Drimpton Village Hall on Sunday, November 12.

Featuring projection, political conjuring tricks, live music and song, audiences will meet the famous characters and enjoy the scenes, speeches and songs, featuring the Great Money Trick as its centrepiece.

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists follows a group of workers as they renovate 'The Cave', a three-storey town house, for Mayor Sweater.

It traces their hardships and struggles for survival in a complacent and stagnating Edwardian England.

These workers are the 'philanthropists' who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters.

They are joined by artist Owen, whose spirited attacks on the dishonesty of Capitalism along with his Socialist vision, highlights the exploitation in their workplace but also focuses on the inequality in society as a whole.

An enduring and absorbing classic story of a year in the life of a group of Edwardian painters and decorators, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is brought to life by actor and musician Neil Gore using his extensive knowledge of the book and the play, having performed it in many versions for more than 40 years.

Follow the story of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists in Briantspuddle Village Hall (07788 100273) on Saturday, November 11 and Drimpton Village Hall (07771 554601) on Sunday, November 12.

Tickets and further information are available online at www.artsreach.co.uk