The Plays of Charles Dickens

Rezensionen / Stimmen

Dickens was one of the most theatrical of novelists, as the editors of this splendid edition make clear, and yet his plays have been relatively disregarded. With this publication we can now, at last, give full attention to Dickens the playwright, his scripts and their textual variants, accompanied by a fresh, incisive and substantial scholarly introduction and a selection of contemporary illustrations. The editors should be rewarded in their hopes that this publication will promote new efforts to stage productions of some of these zestful plays. -- Malcolm Andrews, University of Kent Passionate and charismatic, Dickens was well suited to the nineteenth century theatre. A skilled actor and playwright, drama informed his work and steered his life choices. In this expertly annotated volume, Hofer-Robinson and Orford bring together Dickens's dramas for the very first time, from his youthful comedies to his sensational collaborations with Wilkie Collins. This volume fills a huge gap in Dickens scholarship, simultaneously shedding light on him as both writer and performer. -- Caroline Radcliffe, University of Birmingham This expertly edited and handsomely produced volume, the first serious attempt to explore Dickens's plays, allows us to understand the signal importance of theatre to his development as a novelist, and why these experiments (not always successful) in playwrighting were central to his emergence as a genius in prose. -- John Drew, The University of Buckingham