A new show about Charles Dickens' private life is coming to Silsden Town Hall.
What the Dickens?, from award-winning playwright Clare Norburn, her company The Telling, and BAFTA-nominated director Nicholas Renton, will be performed on Sunday, December 8 in Silsden.
The show explores Dickens' life, including the matter of his 'estranged wife' and 'teenage mistress,' which, said a spokesperson, mean that the Victorian novelist 'doesn’t quite live up to the image of the family man he would like to present to the world' [sic].
The play is set during Dickens' final Christmas Eve, in 1869.
The novelist finds himself 're-cast' as Scrooge, with his past, present, and future (a la A Christmas Carol) presented to him by his wife Catherine and also his mistress, actress Ellen Ternan, who was apparently only 19 when the then 45-year-old Dickens 'approached her.'
The show will be soundtracked by live music, with all seven performers acting, playing instruments, and singing.
Victorian popular songs, street music, old carols, and lively folk dances will all feature, as arranged by Steven Edis.
Tickets for the Silsden performance cost £20 to £28 and are available to book online at www.silsden.live/event-details/what-the-dickens
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