The wonderful world of Dickens

We are nearly at the end of week one of David Copperfield rehearsals – the first Coliseum production of the New Year.

While the building was being refurbished last year, we rehearsed at the Old Library which was a brilliant (and very spacious) place to work, nothing beats working together with the rest of the company. We’re back in the rehearsal studio at the Coliseum and it’s fantastic to have that creative process in the building.

Our time out of the building was a really interesting experience and we tried a great deal of new things but that didn’t hide the fact that the company was spread across the town and while that has its benefits (we did A LOT of walking) having the box office, creative team and administrative teams all together in one building is a really important quality of a producing theatre company.

We’re performing Alastair Cording’s vibrant adaptation which is a fast-paced version of Charles Dickens’s original novel. Alastair has squeezed the best bits of the original 700 page novel into an evening of theatre capturing the brilliance of Dickens’s famous story-telling.

Back to the David Copperfield rehearsals – the cast are getting to grips with the script. This particular adaptation is a tour de force for actors to work on. It’s a cast iron classic story by Charles Dickens and it also involves a lot of the cast doubling up on the different characters they play. The play is packed full of wonderful Dickensian people that you’ll love whether you’ve read the book or not; Uriah Heep, Peggotty, Steerforth and Mr Micawber.

This adaptation also involves an ingenious stripped down set. Much like the techniques we used for the small scale ALRA graduate production of Jane Eyre in September, this production uses props in creative ways in order to move quickly from one location to another as David Copperfield makes his way from London to Yarmouth (via Dover).

David Copperfield is the final opportunity for which you can take advantage of the Coliseum’s Season Ticket offer. You can buy tickets for David Copperfield, Alan Ayckbourn’s Sugar Daddies, John Godber’s Losing the Plot and 1940s musical Blonde Bombshells of 1943 and save up to £27 on full price tickets (concessions are available). If you’ve already bought your ticket for David Copperfield you can upgrade to a Season Ticket – just ring the Box Office on 0161 624 2829 before 23 February to book.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director and Chief Executive.