DICKENS: THE READINGS Will Come to Assembly Festival
Paul Foot, Mark Steel and John Kearns are among performers tackling Charles Dickens stories at Assembly George Square Studios.
Frank Skinner has joined a star-studded line-up of one-off shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August with a special series of readings from the world of Charles Dickens. 'Dickens: The Readings' kicks off on Thursday 06 Aug with Paul Foot performing 'A Christmas Carol' whilst Bebe Cave, Mark Steel, Elf Lyons, Ahir Shah, and Sanjeev Kohli are also announced.
Performances will run 6 – 30 August at 2.50pm at Assembly George Square Studios.
Nearly 160 years after his last appearance in Edinburgh, Charles Dickens' celebrated readings return to the stage, with 22 readings and performances by the Fringe Festival's Favourite performers. Alongside Frank Skinner, Scottish TV legend Gail Porter, acclaimed Poet Brian Bilston, and comic Lorna Rose Treen join the line-up later in the season with each performance bringing a different Dickens story, scene or character to life.
William Burdett-Coutts, Artistic Director of Assembly Festival, said, “Dickens wasn't just a novelist — he was one of the great performers of his age. His public readings sold out across Britain and America; he acted out every character himself, voices and all, and by all accounts they were spellbinding, even exhausting for him to deliver. Putting his work back in the hands of performers, live on a stage, is really just returning it to where it started.”
Acclaimed Fringe clown Elf Lyons will step into the shoes of Dickens' Little Nell, and Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner Ahir Shah takes on novella The Chimes, BBC broadcaster Mark Steel delves into Doctor Marigold, and Edinburgh Comedy Award winner John Kearns performs a chapter from A Tale of Two Cities.
'Dickens: The Readings' also celebrates Assembly Festival's connection to Charles Dickens himself; philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of Dickens' closest friends and collaborators — together they co-founded Urania Cottage, a refuge for homeless women, in 1847 — and a direct ancestor of Assembly Festival Artistic Director William Burdett-Coutts. Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit was dedicated to Burdett-Coutts.
William Burdett-Coutts, Artistic Director of Assembly Festival, said, “Angela and Charles were more than friends — for over a decade they ran Urania Cottage together, and he trusted her enough to dedicate Martin Chuzzlewit to her. It's a wonderful piece of family history, and there's something rather fitting about bringing his stories back to a Fringe stage in Edinburgh, told through voices as brilliant and varied as these.”
The show offers a unique chance to see some of the UK's most talented comedians, actors, clowns and writers perform their own interpretation of Charles Dickens beloved stories and characters.
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