Emlyn Williams as Charles Dickens - Programme, 1953
Title
Emlyn Williams as Charles Dickens - Programme, 1953
Date
13 July 1953
Description
Full programme for one-man performance by Emlyn Williams as Charles Dickens.
What's the story?
Emlyn Williams was an acclaimed Welsh actor and writer.
In this one-man show Williams emulates the novelist Charles Dickens and his staged readings of extracts from his work.
Using an exact copy of Dickens’ reading desk, in this 1953 performance at the Theatre Royal, Williams performed as Dickens reading extracts from Our Mutual Friend, Dombey & Son, Pickwick Papers, The Christmas Stories and A Tale of Two Cities.
Williams began performing this show in 1951 and thirty years later he was still performing it.
In January 1981, the New York Times reviewed Williams’ 30th anniversary revival of his show:
“Standing at a lectern that is a duplicate of one used by Dickens, wearing whiskers and with a red geranium in his buttonhole, he flamboyantly merges his actor's presence with that of his character. He is Dickens on tour, treating us to a healthy sampling of tales, sketches and passages from his novels. He reads - or rather, he acts, for he only pretends occasionally to glance at a book - with the confidence, guile and polish of one who knows the work as if it were his own.
Mr. Williams's Dickens delights in his own command of irony and love of language. He may, at times, stretch a pause to make a humorous point or may overly theatricalize gestures, but, one would guess, even that may be in emulation of his role model.”
In this one-man show Williams emulates the novelist Charles Dickens and his staged readings of extracts from his work.
Using an exact copy of Dickens’ reading desk, in this 1953 performance at the Theatre Royal, Williams performed as Dickens reading extracts from Our Mutual Friend, Dombey & Son, Pickwick Papers, The Christmas Stories and A Tale of Two Cities.
Williams began performing this show in 1951 and thirty years later he was still performing it.
In January 1981, the New York Times reviewed Williams’ 30th anniversary revival of his show:
“Standing at a lectern that is a duplicate of one used by Dickens, wearing whiskers and with a red geranium in his buttonhole, he flamboyantly merges his actor's presence with that of his character. He is Dickens on tour, treating us to a healthy sampling of tales, sketches and passages from his novels. He reads - or rather, he acts, for he only pretends occasionally to glance at a book - with the confidence, guile and polish of one who knows the work as if it were his own.
Mr. Williams's Dickens delights in his own command of irony and love of language. He may, at times, stretch a pause to make a humorous point or may overly theatricalize gestures, but, one would guess, even that may be in emulation of his role model.”
Type
Programme
Location of item
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Rights
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Contributor
Researcher: David Longford
