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6 - 11 February, 7.30pm The Inimitable Dickens Written and directed by Gwen Whippy |
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On February 7th 2012, it will be the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens' birth; and we're marking it with a special one-week production of the acclaimed biographical play The Inimitable Dickens, written and directed by our own Gwen Whippy. Originally commissioned by our founder Duncan Rand in 1980, it has been produced here twice already, published and toured professionally. During his lifetime, Dickens' public image was, in the cynical words of his daughter Katie, that of “a joyous, jocose gentleman walking about the world with a plum pudding and a bowl of punch.” The reality was rather different. Largely using his own words, The Inimitable Dickens builds up an unforgettable portrait of a Jekyll-and-Hyde character who paid a great price for his great talent. The play, which includes short extracts from Nicholas Nickleby, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities and Pickwick Papers, shows how ashamed he was to be sent to work at a blacking factory when he was only 12 years old; how this fuelled his obsession with money and a determination never again to be victimised; and how the astonishing overnight success of Pickwick made him a public figure while he was still in his 20s. Detailing his turbulent relationships with women and the demons that drove him to his death, The Inimitable Dickens is a must for anyone who loves his work – and if you've never read one of his books, then this is an ideal introduction to the extraordinary man who created Scrooge, Fagin, Bill Sykes, Nancy, Squeers, Micawber, Magwitch, Miss Havisham, Sarah Gamp, Sam Weller and Uriah Heep. A large cast is headed, in the title role, by lifelong Dickens enthusiast Michael Bath (Gaslight, Hobson's Choice), who directed the recent As You Like It and our 1982 production of Great Expectations. Dickens' spendthrift but genial father John, the original of Mr Micawber, is Alan Whippy (Quartet, As You Like It, Hobson's Choice); and Jacqueline Newton (Steel Magnolias, Hobson's Choice, As You Like It) is the mother Dickens never forgave after she wanted him to stay on at the blacking factory. This production welcomes much new talent to our stage: Vicky Baldwin plays Dickens' long-suffering wife Catherine; Alex Hough is his first love Maria, who dumped him and later regretted it; Aaron Carter plays the great actor William Charles Macready; Lottie Gilbourne is the tragic Mary Hogarth, the original of Little Nell; while Helen Beale is Ellen Ternan, the Rochester-born actress who became the mistress Dickens managed to keep secret from his adoring public. Jim Gilbourne (As You Like It) plays Dickens' rival William Makepeace Thackeray, with whom he had a spectacular and very public falling-out; Jason Thompson (See How They Run) is Dickens' biographer and closest friend John Forster; Chris Hynd (See How They Run, As You Like It) is the ever-faithful Georgina Hogarth; and support is provided by Colin Bryant, Frank Linton, Damian Veck and members of our Children's Workshop and Youth Company. It is especially appropriate that we celebrate Dickens' birthday here in Rochester, since the Medway Towns feature so prominently in his life and works. He spent his happier childhood years in Chatham, where his father was a pay clerk at the Dockyard; in later life he bought nearby Gad's Hill Place and often walked to Rochester and Chatham High Streets, where he was well-known to shopkeepers. The area features in many of his books, especially Pickwick Papers, Great Expectations and Edwin Drood; and one of the last paragraphs he wrote was a description of Rochester itself. We cordially invite you to join us in celebrating the birthday of a writer who today is widely regarded as second only to Shakespeare; and who was, for all his faults, unquestionably inimitable. |
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Box Office 01634 400322 or book online
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