Charles Dickens is well known for his ghost stories but The Signalman is the most atmospheric of them all. In a deep, damp railway cutting a lonely signalman tells his terrible tale to a complete stranger. The signal box, the tunnel, even the telegraph wires seem to haunt him at every turn and Gerald’s performance captures the brooding nature of the original.
Gerald Dickens’ recreation of Sikes and Nancy is Victorian theatre at its most dramatic. Throughout the 1860s Charles Dickens gave a series of readings from his novels and his repertoire featured performances that involved safe, well-known, and often comic passages from his novels, but in 1869 he introduced Sikes and Nancy to his program. When Dickens performed what he called The Murder he judged the success of the evening by the number of ladies who had fainted with horror. Today it has lost none of its horrific power.
Where did Charles get his love for the macabre? Possibly it was from the lips of his childhood nurse who would regale him with the gruesome tale of The Tale of Captain Murderer. At the age of only 6 years, little Charles delighted in the awful and bloodthirsty tale, and in 2024 Gerald brings the story to life once more.
Gerald Dickens is an actor, director, and producer, and the great-great-grandson of the author Charles Dickens. In 1993 he created his first one-man show, a theatrical performance of A Christmas Carol inspired by Charles Dickens’ own energetic readings of the 1860s. A fascination with the life and works of Charles led him to write and direct further one-man shows including Mr. Dickens is Coming!, Nicholas Nickleby and Great Expectations. Dickens regularly performs in major theatres and arts centres, arts and literary festivals, as well as at hotels, stately homes, and on cruise ships.
Join us for a uniquely ghastly evening of Victoriana in the atmospheric Leicester Guildhall. Not to be missed!
£12
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