The French Revolution! What a wealth of emotions is conjured up by the phrase. The Terror; the guillotine; "Let them eat cake" (which she never said); Robespierre caught by his own sharp instrument; the Scarlet Pimpernel (a later intrusion!); the rise of Napoleon etc., etc. When Dickens decided in 1859 to publish his novel the upheaval across the Channel was remembered by the older generation.
The GWT is delighted to bring to the stage this adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities. Aside from The Pickwick Papers it is Dickens' most popular book. Written in 1859, it is his great historical novel, tracing the lives of a group of people caught up in the cataclysm of the French revolution and the Terror. "The best story I have ever written" was Dickens' own verdict.
BILL BRAY on the author of our next production
It was also a time of revolution in Dickens own turbulent life. Watching Stephen Fry's recent TV programmes about manic depression and the obsessive and destructive behaviour and the frequent creative talent of those struck by it, I had a suspicion that Dickens, too, with his mood swings of elation and depression might well have been afflicted. After an acrimonious tussle with publishers, Dickens had become the owner of All the Year Round and A Tale of Two Cities was its first serialised novel. For the first time he had complete editorial control of the weekly magazine that had a circulation of at least a hundred thousand copies at two old pence each. Serialised novels were to be the main feature and The Woman in White by his friend, Wilkie Collins, followed immediately after A Tale of Two Cities, a novel Dickesn had unusually conceived as a work of narrative and incident rather than of character and dialogue. He used a number of sources, especially Thomas Carlyle's History of the French Revolution, although it has been said that Dickens had been preparing to write it all his life. He had always been obsessed with the struggle for the overthrow of an oppressive system under the French monarchy which had contempt for humanity, decency and human rights. His own personal life, however, with the breakdown of his marriage to Catherine and his infatuation with the young actress, Ellen Ternan, had reached a crisis. In 1859 Dickens was preoccupied with imprisonment, ( haunting Dickens from childhood after his father's incarceration in the Marshalsea), rebirth, self-sacrifice and the renunciation of love, ideas which permeate the novel.
Dickens had a strong theatrical streak and his public readings from his stories are legendary. The first series of readings ended in 1859 and at the close of the tour he had a feeling of anti-climax . This was overcome as the novel that he had begun to write took complete possession of him. It was, he said, the next best thing to acting and he poured the excitement into his presentation of Sydney Carton and the world of terror. The wish to act out the life and death of his hero makes it the most theatrical of his novels. Almost as soon as it was published in serial form Dickens was making plans to have it dramatised in both Paris and London. The French scheme was soon abandoned because of government censorship but the well-known Victorian dramatist, Tom Taylor, adapted the novel for the Lyceum. Currently home to the musical The Lion King, the Lyceum was only a hundred yards from the office where Dickens worked for two days a week to produce his periodical and there is evidence that he had a strong hand in the production.
A more famous Lyceum production came 40 years later in 1899 when a new adaptation, The Only Way, by several writers as well as Taylor, gave matinée idol, John Martin-Harvey an enormous success as Sidney Carton. So, with a cast of thousands, the GWT proudly invites you to storm the barricades for its next production in a modern adaptation by Matthew Francis.
LESLEY ROBINS, director, introduces her production
This is a story which combines historical fact with the author's unsurpassed genius for poignant tales of human suffering, self-sacrifice and redemption. Suspense gathers from the opening scene, with the rescue of Dr Manette from incarceration in the Bastille. At the centre are the figures of Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, both men in love with the doctor's beautiful daughter, Lucy, linked together by fate and the engulfing terrors of revolution.
You can practically hear the tumbrels draw up to the guillotine and the clicking of the knitting needles in this superb adaptation by Matthew Francis. As you would expect with Dickens, scenes of horror, violence and sadness are balanced with wonderful moments of comedy and satire. During the telling of this exciting and moving story, we meet a veritable cornucopia of Dickensian characters, brought to life by a huge cast of talented and versatile actors, including John Turnbull, Roger Gollop, Claire Lewis-McClean, Damon Unwin, Paul Redfern, Paul Wharton, Ian Pring, Peter Morris, Eileen Brookes, Natalie Smith, Susan Small, Mavis Dunphy, Philip Vander Gucht and many, many more...not forgetting, of course, Madame la Guillotine!
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