Charles Dickens - A Theatre Under One Hat
Charles Dickens - A Theatre Under One Hat
Peter Bateson
My visit to Moscow and Turmalin as the guest of Rudolf and Masha was a wonderful experience. I have been very interested in Russian history, literature and culture all my life but this was my first visit to the country. I am still digesting all the marvellous experiences. Among the best were the Kremlin cathedrals and museums, Tolstoy’s house in Khamovniki, Novodevichy Convent and Tretyakovsky Gallery, and of course seeing Turmalin and meeting all the people.
As part of my visit to Russia, I was very happy to perform my re-enactment of Charles Dickens readings at the Lunacharsky Hall on 12th October. I have always loved the novels of Dickens, one of the greatest writers in the English language, and my performance was modelled on the public readings which Dickens himself gave in Britain and America. Although I have done it several times it is never exactly the same twice, and this performance was specially designed for my Russian audience, with two new pieces - “Oliver Twist asks for more” and “Barkis is willing” (from David Copperfield). The other pieces were ‘Come up and be dead!’ from Our Mutual Friend, ‘Marley’s Ghost’ from A Christmas Carol, ‘The Mantalinis’ from Nicholas Nickleby, ‘At the Guillotine’ from A Tale of Two Cities and a second longer piece from David Copperfield, about ‘Aunt Betsy Trotwood’,
I know that Dickens has always been known and loved in Russia. His work was greatly admired by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. With my personal interest in Russian literature, Tolstoy has always been a favourite of mine (along with Pasternak and Paustovsky), so it is satisfying to know that Tolstoy also enjoyed and respected Dickens’ work. Reading Dickens had the effect of making Tolstoy want to sit down and write. In 1878 his wife recorded in her diary that “when Levochka starts reading English novels," he was getting ready to write himself. Early in his career, reading David Copperfield was a major impetus for Tolstoy's decision to write the first segment of his trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood and Youth.
For the performance I brought my costume with me from England but nothing else, so I was very lucky to find a number of things behind the scenes in the theatre storeroom that I could put together to make a stage set - furniture, screens, cloths, old books, plants etc. I was very touched by the great interest, warmth and enthusiasm shown by my receptive and appreciative Russian audience and I very much enjoyed doing the readings and sharing my love of Dickens with them. I was especially happy to be able to have tea with everyone afterwards, to meet many fine people and talk about Dickens and more generally about past and present English and Russian literature and culture. Thank you for such a warm welcome!
Peter Bateson
My visit to Moscow and Turmalin as the guest of Rudolf and Masha was a wonderful experience. I have been very interested in Russian history, literature and culture all my life but this was my first visit to the country. I am still digesting all the marvellous experiences. Among the best were the Kremlin cathedrals and museums, Tolstoy’s house in Khamovniki, Novodevichy Convent and Tretyakovsky Gallery, and of course seeing Turmalin and meeting all the people.
As part of my visit to Russia, I was very happy to perform my re-enactment of Charles Dickens readings at the Lunacharsky Hall on 12th October. I have always loved the novels of Dickens, one of the greatest writers in the English language, and my performance was modelled on the public readings which Dickens himself gave in Britain and America. Although I have done it several times it is never exactly the same twice, and this performance was specially designed for my Russian audience, with two new pieces - “Oliver Twist asks for more” and “Barkis is willing” (from David Copperfield). The other pieces were ‘Come up and be dead!’ from Our Mutual Friend, ‘Marley’s Ghost’ from A Christmas Carol, ‘The Mantalinis’ from Nicholas Nickleby, ‘At the Guillotine’ from A Tale of Two Cities and a second longer piece from David Copperfield, about ‘Aunt Betsy Trotwood’,
I know that Dickens has always been known and loved in Russia. His work was greatly admired by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. With my personal interest in Russian literature, Tolstoy has always been a favourite of mine (along with Pasternak and Paustovsky), so it is satisfying to know that Tolstoy also enjoyed and respected Dickens’ work. Reading Dickens had the effect of making Tolstoy want to sit down and write. In 1878 his wife recorded in her diary that “when Levochka starts reading English novels," he was getting ready to write himself. Early in his career, reading David Copperfield was a major impetus for Tolstoy's decision to write the first segment of his trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood and Youth.
For the performance I brought my costume with me from England but nothing else, so I was very lucky to find a number of things behind the scenes in the theatre storeroom that I could put together to make a stage set - furniture, screens, cloths, old books, plants etc. I was very touched by the great interest, warmth and enthusiasm shown by my receptive and appreciative Russian audience and I very much enjoyed doing the readings and sharing my love of Dickens with them. I was especially happy to be able to have tea with everyone afterwards, to meet many fine people and talk about Dickens and more generally about past and present English and Russian literature and culture. Thank you for such a warm welcome!