DON'T be alarmed if you happen to step into the loos at the New Vic during this summer's production of Bleak House.

On hearing eerie, disembodied whispers piped through the sound system, you may be forgiven for thinking that perhaps you've spent too much time at the bar.

But it's all part of creating an ominous atmosphere and is just one of the small details which sets this stage version of Charles Dickens's novel apart.

Centred around a long-running will dispute which has stretched across generations of the same family, the story sees a group of barristers endlessly deliberating over the division of the estate, while those at the heart of the case must wait for the court's decision.

Mystery pervades the whole tale. There's more than a hint of CSI as Inspector Bucket, played by Nicholas Tizzard, picks his way through an apparent suicide, a cold-blooded shooting and a wonderfully smoky spontaneous combustion.

And in what is a first for the theatre, audience members are asked to arrive early to walk through a pre-show "promenade". The art and design department have spent months building a standalone set featuring scenes from the book and providing clues to the unfolding intrigue ahead. There they meet many of the characters they will encounter during the course of the evening.

When Dickens wrote Bleak House in 1852, it was published in 20 instalments. Editing an epic down to two-and-a-half hours of performance is a big ask, but Theresa Heskins's dramatisation works well. Unlike other adaptations of the writer's work, which treat every incident and minor character as sacred, nothing has been included for the sake of it and the story whips along at a pace.

Bleak House runs until Saturday, July 24. Call the box office on 01782 717962.

Zita Collinson