The Globe Players’ new production What the Dickens! has been created not only to introduce Dickens’ novels and characters, but also to show how his writing reflected his beliefs as a campaigner and social reformer.
A charity collector’s request for a contribution from the miserly Mr Scrooge is unsuccessful, to say the least, but before long Mr Scrooge has a chastening encounter with the ghost of his partner, Jacob Marley. Young Pip is struck with terror when the shackled convict Magwich suddenly appears and seizes him in a graveyard. And the beautiful, cold-hearted Estella soon exercises a hold over Pip that is no less disturbing. We share the progress of their relationship, conducted as it is by the embittered Miss Havisham.
All this and much more (including a lesson from Mr Wackford Squeers!) can be seen in our new production.
Our intention is not only to instil in the young audience a love for Dickens’ stories and characters. Dickens was certainly the most prominent novelist of his day, but he was also a leading social reformer. The gallery of “sketches” presented in What the Dickens! hang together as witnesses to some of the most important social changes that took place in Victorian England.
Dickens encouraged, and occasionally initiated, these changes by forcing his readers to look up from his books, to see beyond their immediate environment, and to confront the injustices occurring in the society around them. In opening his readers’ eyes to harsh reality, Dickens became an agent of change in society.
Key works covered:
- A Christmas Carol
- Great Expectations
- Oliver Twist
- David Copperfield
- Nicholas Nickleby
- The Pickwick Papers
Social changes discussed:
- Dr Bernardo
- Mines Act
- Factory Acts
- Sweep Licences
- Education Act
Price: £500 +VAT for a single show (special deals available for multiple bookings).