van zijn verblijf met engelse officieren in
Montreal te zullen optreden.
"The theatricals (I think I told you I
had been invited to play with the officers of
the Coldstream guards here) are A Roland
for an Oliver, Two o'Clock in the Morning,
and either The Young Widow or Deaf as a
Post. Ladies (unprofessional) are going to
play, for the first time, I wrote to Mitchell
at New York for a wig, for Mr Snobbington,
which has arrived and is brilliant. If they
had done Love, Law and Physick, as first
proposed, I was already "up" in Flexible,
having played it of old, before my
authorshipdays." (J.F.)
De uitvoering was, na tien dagen
repeteren, een succes:
"But only think of Kate playing! and
playing devilish well, I assure you. All the
ladies were capital we began at eight and
had the curtain down at eleven." (J.F.)
Ook thuis werd toneel gespeeld. Toen
Dickens met zijn gezin in Tavistock House te
Londen woonde, liet hij in de tuin een klein
theater bouwen. Zowel zijn oudste dochter
Mary als zijn jongste zoon Henry Fielding
hebben hiervan hun herinneringen vastgelegd.
"My first vivid and real recollection of
him goes back, I think, to 1854, in
connection with the children's theatricals
which took place at Tavistock House on
Twelfth Night, and in which I played a
leading part. The play was Henry Fielding's
burlesque of Tom Thumb. My father also
played a prominent part, that of the ghost
Gaffer Thumb, assisted by Mark Lemon, the
editor of Punch, a very fat and jovial man,
an intimate friend of my father's, who went
in the family by the name of "Uncle Mark."
(H.F.D.)
"Very clearly, also, I recall the play of
'Fortunio in the following year. Its full title
was Fortunio and his Seven Gifted Servants,
one of Planché' delightful fairy
extravaganzeas. Here, again I took the title
role, Lemon played the Dragon, whom I was,
in due course, to slay, and my father played
the part of testy old Baron, while my
youngest brother apppeared in the bills as
Mr Plornish Maroontigoonter at the advanced
age of something under three years old."
(H.F.D.)
"Of course, in the theatricals for the
"Grown-ups" we children took no active part.
The Lighthouse and The Frozen Deep,
written by Wilkie, were serious plays and put
upon the stage with all the completeness of
a public theatre. I did a minor share in the
production of The Frozen Deep, I remember,
which was to cut up paper for the snow."
(H.F.D.)
De jaren 1857 en 1858 brachten voor
Dickens grote veranderingen met zich mee,
zowel in zijn privéleven als in zijn carrière,
zijn "openbare" leven. Privé dook hij onder,
"Dickens incognito", en in het openbaar
bracht hij "zijn" publiek nader tot hem met
succesvolle "readingtours".
"The year 1857 saw Dickens for the
last time as a public actor. Collins, in his
preface to the published edition of The
Frozen Deep in narrative form, writes of his
last appearance, when he played Richard
Wardour: "Dickens surpassed himself. The
trite phrase is the true phrase to describe
that magnificence of acting. He electrified
the audience." (J.B.v.A.)
Met dit laatste optreden doelde Collins
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