More of wot I have seen…

Dr Marigold & Mr Chops by Charles Dickens

Dr Marigold and Going into Society are two short readings by Charles Dickens that he would perform on tours to packed audiences. These two stories have similar themes; both have main characters who ‘perform’ to an audience for the purpose of gaining financial reward, one as a travelling sales man come hawker of wares, and the other as a proprietor of a freak show. They are also social commentaries on how people treat others not the same as they are and on how the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

This two part one man show was performed in the attractive little Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford by the exceptionally talented and spellbinding Simon Callow. Although Sue did fall asleep it might have had more to do with the substantial lunch and liquid refreshment than the quality of the acting (she has been known to fall asleep in the cinema as the massive battle scenes unfolded at the beginning of Gladiator only to wake moments later to ask “have I missed anything?”).

Baring a few small changes to the script, to alter a few anachronistic words and to make more suitable for a monologue by the character, there is remarkably little difference from the original scripts, which still have a relevance in today’s world while giving us a view into those aspects of yesteryear that have disappeared without trace.