Ralph Nickleby is a man who may be summed up by his belief that "all love is cant and vanity".

Thus, when his freshly-widowed sister-in-law comes to him for support, he minimises his contribution while maximising its benefit to himself.

More than capable of using his niece Kate for the furtherance of his business interests, he forestalls opposition to his policies by packing -off his nephew Nicholas to teach at a "school" in Yorkshire called Dotheboys Hall.

However, Nicholas takes issue with the harsh treatment routinely meted out to the inmates and, after intervening on behalf of a physically and mentally damaged orphan called Smike, sets out on a long and uncertain road to who knows where.

Though much imitated since its RSC debut back in the Eighties, David Edgar's two-part adaptation of Dickens' novel has lost none of its epic power to thrill and to keep an audience riveted to its seats for six hours or more.

Part One is the lighter of the two plays, culminating in a magnificently funny recreation of Victorian-style Shakespearean tragedy.

Part Two is considerably more heavily laden with evil and death, as well as with outrageous coincidences and loose ends in need of laborious tying-up.

Such shortcomings, however, are down to the hackier elements of the source material, not to Philip Franks and Jonathan Church's painstakingly detailed production.

If only there were room here to commend every cast member by name.

As it is, one must draw attention to Leigh Lawson's commanding Ralph Nickleby; to Daniel Weyman and Hannah Yelland for their heartfelt renderings of Nicholas and Kate; to John Ramm as the unconventionally heroic Newman Noggs; to Pip Donaghy, Veronica Roberts and Zoe Waites as the repulsive Squeers family; and to David Dawson's extraordinary inhabitation of the saintly Smike.

Yet every performer here is a star. Church and Franks have fostered a true community spirit among their cast, who between the 23 of them play somewhere in excess of 100 characters.

Everyone gets a chance to shine, yet the bit parts are handled with just as much commitment as the showier roles.

Until September 2, call 01243 781312