Simon Callow is a virtuoso storyteller who has already presented the life of Britain’s greatest novelist in The Mystery of Charles Dickens in both the West End and on Broadway. Read more …
Now he brings to life two one-man plays by Charles Dickens after a sell-out London run. In an absorbing theatrical event he tells the stories of Dr Marigold, a travelling salesman who adopts a little deaf and dumb girl and Mr Chops, a freak-show turn who wins the lottery and a place in society. Adapted by Patrick Garland, these masterpieces, which were hugely popular when Dickens himself performed them on his famed reading tours, provide a masterly blend of the comic, bizarre and poignant that is classic Dickens.
Simon Callow recently played Pozzo in Waiting for Godot and has starred in the Oscar-winning films A Room with a View, Howard's End and Shakespeare in Love.
There is, it must be admitted, a certain air of quaintness about a show like Dr Marigold & Mr Chops, which is an unashamedly old-fashioned entertainment. But this charming evening proves hard to resist, serving as a reminder of the rich humanity of Dickens’s writing and a demonstration of the skills of an actor whose sheer delight in performance is palpable and infectious.
The show is a tour de force, in which bravura technical skill is combined with a profound understanding of both Dickens’s art and what it means to be fully human.
S'is Dickens, and for all Callow's skillful underplaying the schmaltz is not optional.
For anyone who’d like to understand what all the fuss about Dickens is, this is a good place to start.
You can’t help but feel another actor might have come to this project with a more jaded and cynical eye. But as long as you go along to this show without great expectations (sorry), you won’t be disappointed.
It’s exquisitely done, though better suited to the short attention span of the Fringe than a substantial evening out. A minor pleasure all the same.
The combination of Dickens and Callow is indeed a brilliant one, layered and poignant, drawing tears and laughter, and full of life.
King's Theatre, Edinburgh from Tuesday November 1, 2011, until Saturday November 5, 2011. More info: http://www.edtheatres.com/kings
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