Dickens Is Better When Brought To Life.

I’m sort of middle of the road when it comes to Charles Dickens.

Love A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities. Thought Bleak House and Great Expectations were like slogging through a peat bog. Even David Copperfield bored me to tears while Oliver Twist depressed the hell outta me.

However, dry as I might find his prose, Dickens’ stories come to life on stage. I just watched a production of Hard Times and found it riveting. Maybe it was the actors’ interpretations of the characters but I laughed, I cried, at times I was a little creeped out. The stage production managed to flesh out what I usually see as the Dickensian version of Flatland.

I guess Dickens is kind of like Shakespeare. Better when lived out loud.