“Marley was dead: to begin with”—those 6 iconic words send readers on a journey through the pages of Charles Dickens’ illustrious book, A Christmas Carol. But when Gerald Dickens speaks those same 6 words on stage at the start of his live one-man performance, he too sends his audience on an adventure—one he has taken many times in 20-plus years of performing his great-great-grandfather’s classic work. “It’s sort of a living, breathing story that’s never the same twice,” says Dickens. In his years of performing, each time he gets on stage still feels fresh. “It’s always different, there’s always something new,” he adds.
Dickens was first approached about staging a recreation of one of Charles Dickens’ public dramatic readings of A Christmas Carol for a 1993 charity event in England during celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the book’s publication. As a member of the Dickens family and a professional actor, Dickens fit perfectly into bringing the book live on stage. “I just started going through [the book] at home, trying to make it varied enough so that a modern audience can relate to it,” he says. “So I was developing different voices for the characters, and different expressions on my face for all the different characters, and ways of gesturing, just to try and take the words, but then put something more onto them.” Jumping off Charles Dickens’ vivid descriptions in the text, he also used many regional British accents, distinctive speech patterns, and physical behavior to embody the different characters throughout the show.
Initially, Dickens purposefully avoided researching historical accounts of Charles Dickens’ readings to make the story his own. “I didn’t sort of want to do an impression of him,” Dickens says. But after picking up a copy of the edited script Charles Dickens used during a performance, he was pleasantly surprised that his dramatic method was very similar to his predecessor. “I discovered that I hadn’t really done anything that he hadn’t done 100 years before,” Dickens says. “He had done the voices and the gestures and the expressions and given a dramatic rendition of it instead of just a literary reading. And that’s when I became fascinated with it because it started to live as a theater script rather than just a novel.”
From there, Dickens expanded the show and brought it to Charles Dickens festivals in the US. From there, he began formally touring his performance. Though the core story remains the same, Dickens is often inspired to make a few changes or surprises–but not until he is actually in the midst of the performance, driven by the audience’s reaction and the feeling inside the theater. “It evolves every time I perform it,” he says. “I think one of the reasons for that is because the story is so varied [and] every venue is slightly different,” he says. Dickens is aware of what the audience takes away from the story and carefully constructed the performance to include all important and favorite elements. He also introduces little details that might be overlooked in the text that add a special dimension to the show.
This year’s tour, presented by Byers’ Choice Ltd., brings him to 20 locations around the US. In addition to A Christmas Carol, he will also bring lesser-known works to the stage in select locations: ghost-story, The Signal Man, and one of Dickens’ personal favorites, heartfelt monologue, Doctor Marigold. “I started performing [Doctor Marigold] a few years ago and it’s a really special piece,” he says. While A Christmas Carol showcases Dickens’ acting range in a cast of characters, Doctor Marigold talks directly to the audience in first person. “It’s very, very moving. […] When he first starts talking to the audience, he is very much in the showman style. It’s very fast-paced sales pattern—it’s very funny,” he says. “But then he starts to tell the audience his life story, which is absolutely tragic. He suffers knock, after knock, after knock, and he always bounces back again. It’s an absolutely charming, beautiful, life-affirming story.”
Dickens also brings a new souvenir program, a joint venture between himself and his brother, Ian Dickens, and is available for purchase at his performances. The booklet not only acts as a memento commemorating his annual tour, but also provides information about the history of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens’ readings and American tour, notable photographs, as well as insight into Dickens’ own thoughts about adapting the story.
After years of performing, one of the most rewarding experiences is seeing the unwavering devotion to his great-great-grandfather’s story. “I feel very lucky to be given the opportunity to [perform] and to see absolutely firsthand the enthusiasm still for his work,” says Dickens. “That’s one of the greatest senses of pride as a family member—observing the passion for Dickens’ work. It’s really amazing!”
Catch Gerald Dickens’ tour this November and December. The full schedule is available on the Buyer Choice website here.
Originally featured in Wordsby Arts & Culture News.
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