THE THEATRE PEOPLE - Submitted by Laura Hartnell 2nd March 2012
Date of Show:
Thursday, 1st March 2012 (All day)
Venue: The Arts Centre
Dickens' Women is one of the most enriching, entertaining and utterly glorious evenings I have ever spent at the theatre.
When I first caught sight of the dimly lit stage, adorned with a gilded portrait of Charles Dickens, a grand piano, a few chairs and a lecturn, I briefly wondered if I had accidentally walked into something sombre and old-fashioned. But as soon as Miriam Margoyles waddled onto the stage as Mrs Gamp, the habitual drinker and incessant prattler from Martin Chuzzlewit, I was transported into a world where surprises lay just around the corner that, when revealed, made you want to burst with joy.
When Margoyles breaks away from Mrs Gamp to introduce herself and the show, you quickly learn that her passion for Dickens is something that is embedded deep within her. She does not apologise for this obsession; in fact, she delights in it, and delights us with it, leaving most audience members yearning to read Dickens’ complete works at the end of the play. For the entirety of the play, she reminded me of a child at play, in her own world of make-believe: no inhibitions, no apologies, just pure, unbridled delight. The characters tumble out of her and onto the stage, and she contextualizes them all within Dickens’ writings and life. She explores his lifelong obsession with young, beautiful girls – a symptom of Dickens’ seventeen-year-old sister in law dying in his arms – and admits she finds the little, young things of his novels “a bit icky, actually”.
Instead, she revels in the eccentricities and wondrous grotesqueries of Dickens’ larger-than-life women. She interweaves her astonishing incarnations of Dickens’ famous and lesser known female characters with ascinating accounts of the great author’s life and beliefs. She takes apart his image as the great, portly grandfather of English Literature and exposes not only his shortfalls, but his capacity for irrationality and cruelty. Particularly moving is Margolyes’ account of Dickens’ separation from his wife Catherine, during which he told his public she was an unfit wife and mother, and not of sound mind. This was the most tense moment of the show, full of audible sighs of disappointment; you could almost hear the image of Dickens cracking in everyone’s minds.
Highlights of the show included a terrifically exuberant scene between Mr Bumble and Widow Corney, in which Margolyes switches between the two characters so expertly that you could swear there were two actors on the stage. Conversely, her touching monologue from the mouth of unapologetic lesbian Miss Wade (Dombey and Son) was heartbreaking and reminded me of Judi Dench’s similarly tragic character in Notes on a Scandal. Another brilliant moment include Margolyes’ incarnation of the spectacularly colourful dwarf manicurist Miss Moucher, from David Copperfield, who, Margoyles teaches us, Dickens rewrote halfway through the book at the request of the woman the character was based on. Miss Moucher, she said, turned into someone “rather angelic and boring so I shan’t do her.” My favourite monologue, which closed the show, came from Miss Flight of Bleak House; so moving was the withering old woman’s account of the birds she keeps caged as she awaits judgement on a court case that will likely never come, that I was left dumbstruck.
In the realm of character actresses, Margoyles is a genius. Her ability to evoke an astonishing array of characters – from the young Pip and frail old Miss Havisham of Great Expectations, to the waifish twits that are Dickens’ young beauties, Margolyes’ characterization leaves you truly believing that these characters are alive and rollicking around in front of you. You leave the theatre wishing that she was your half-tipsy old aunt, full of stories and warm cuddles by the fire. With wonderfully calculated direction from co-creator Sonia Fraser, stunning lighting and beautiful music, I have never had a more joyful two hours of theatre. I felt like a child, I felt like a learned adult, I felt I would at once break in two from devastation and float away with joy. Dickens’ Women is astonishing. Cancel any plans you have and see this show.
Posted : 2nd March 2012