Dickensblog

Household words

I'm afraid I've had to set up comment moderation, at least for the time being. The spam has been out of control lately, and until TypePad figures out a way to fix their filter, this is the only way I know how to deal with it.

On playing Dickens's bad guys

In this interview, actor Robert Powell talks about his one-man show Dickens' Villains.

Meet the maid: An interview with Theresa Derrington Cozens-Hardy

Some time ago, I did a blog post about the actress who played Fred's maid in the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol, known in Britain as Scrooge. I wrote that viewers loved her, but no one seemed to know who she was. Recently, commenter Paul Tollet told me that he knew: She's his sister's mother-in-law. At the time she appeared in the film, he reported, her name was Theresa Derrington.

I e-mailed Paul, who put me in touch with Theresa's son Matthew Hepenstal, and the two of them supplied some information about her life and career. Her nickname is "Trip," as she was one of triplets. She attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and played only a few roles onstage and in films before marrying in 1951. She and her husband had five children. She was widowed and later married again; her last name is now Cozens-Hardy. 

Another blue plaque for Dickens

A new blue plaque on the site of Dickens's first home in London will be unveiled June 8 by Lucinda Dickens Hawksley. The Dickens Fellowship is inviting everyone who would like to come, "in period costume or not"!

Revisiting 'The Old Curiosity Shop'

Random Reads, a blog at Random House India, is doing a series about "forgotten" classics. This month, The Old Curiosity Shop is featured. It's odd to think of this one as "forgotten," when it was so immensely popular in its time -- but there's no doubt that tastes have changed since then. Makes you wonder which Dickens novels will be considered the best, and which will be "forgotten," in another century or so.

(Elsewhere, Simon Riley, reviewing an updated dramatic version, reminds us how relevant The Old Curiosity Shop still is.)

What's weird about that?

From an Atlantic article about "the literary figures with the weirdest obsessions":

"Charles Dickens had two ravens, two St. Bernards, two Newfoundlands, a spaniel, a mastiff, a Pomeranian, a cat, a canary, and a pony. Their names, respectively, were Grip I, Grip II, Sultan, Linda, Don, Bumble, Timber, Turk, Mrs. Bouncer, Williamina, Dick, and Newman Noggs."

Congratulations, 'Edwin Drood'!

Broadway's Tony Award nominations were announced this morning, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood picked up five: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Director (Scott Ellis), Best Leading Actress (Stephanie J. Block as Edwin), Best Featured Actor (Will Chase as Jasper), and Best Scenic Design (Anna Louizos). The winners will be announced June 9, in a live ceremony on CBS.

Drood also received seven Drama Desk nominations: Outstanding Revival of a Musical, Outstanding Actor (Jim Norton as the Chairman), Outstanding Actress (Block), Outstanding Featured Actor (Andy Karl as Neville), Outstanding Featured Actress (Jessie Mueller as Helena), Outstanding Set Design (Louizos), and Outstanding Sound Design (Tony Meola). The Drama Desk winners will be announced May 19.

Congratulations and best wishes to the nominees!

That's quite a choice

A street in Kings Cross, London, may be named after either Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley, or Amy Winehouse.

Dickens & Dostoevsky, debunked

That story about a meeting between the two writers that's been floating around for the past few years has finally been confirmed as a hoax . . . and a complex hoax it was, according to the Times Literary Supplement. (Slate has a shorter version of the story.)

Dickens and Bulwer-Lytton in 'The Atlantic'

I have an article in The Atlantic today, about Mikhail Simkin's attempt to prove that there's no substantial difference between Dickens's works and Edward Bulwer-Lytton's. Click here to read it!