A Dickens of a Performance at Orcas Center this Tuesday

Gerald Dickens presents "Mr. Dickens is Coming!" this Tuesday to Benefit the Orcas Arts Education Project

The Lobby Gallery and Madrona Room at the Orcas Center will be the scene of a delightful evening to benefit the Orcas Arts Education Project, as Charles Dickens’ great great grandson, Gerald Dickens, brings to life the stories of his prolific ancestor.

Gerald Dickens’,  one-man show is based on the characters and diary extracts of the great 19^th-century writer and social activist when he performs  this coming Tuesday, Nov. 9.

Although we no longer have debtors’ prisons, and labor laws protect children, Charles Dickens’ writings and social conscience live on into the new millennium as productions of Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield are mounted on Broadway, in Hollywood, and even come to Orcas Island.

A varied and entertaining look at the life of Charles Dickens, “Mr. Dickens is Coming!” is based on the readings performed by Charles Dickens himself during his own American tours, and features characters, diary extracts and observations from those who lived and worked with the author, as well as Gerald’s own 21st-century views.

Charles Dickens, world-famous  novelist, also loved performing on the stage. On his American tours in 1842 and 1867-68 he traveled by stagecoach and railroad. He adored performing A Christmas Carol to standing-room only crowds. However, while traveling about the United States, he railed against the national habit of spitting. “In every barroom and hotel passage, the stone floor looks as if it were paved with open oysters,” Dickens observed with disgust.

American greed infuriated him. “This is not the Republic I came to see,” he sadly wrote a friend. “This is not the Republic of my imagination.”

His progeny, Gerald Dickens, wonders what his literary ancestor would think of Christmas commercialized far beyond his wildest imaginings. “I rather believe that, as he looks down at us, he’s of two minds, amusement and horror,” Gerald Dickens said.

The younger Dickens was bit by the acting bug as a child. He regularly performs in major theaters and arts centers as well as at hotels and stately homes and at literary and arts festivals. In 1993 he created his first one-man show, a theatrical performance of A Christmas Carol inspired by the original author’s own energetic readings of the 1860s.  In addition to “A Christmas Carol” and Mr. Dickens is Coming!,” Gerald Dickens has written and directed other one-man shows including “Tea with Scrooge,” “Nicholas Nickleby” and “Sketches by Boz.”

The New York Times called Gerald Dickens’ performance, “A once-in-a-lifetime brush with literary history.”

The evening is a benefit for the Orcas Arts Education Project, which is provides “comprehensive, sequential, developmental, and sustainable instruction in dance, music, theatre and the visual arts for Orcas Island’s K-12 students.”

The  Orcas Arts Education Project is led in partnership by Orcas Center, the Orcas Island Public School District and the Orcas Island Education Foundation, a consortium of over 15 representatives from island organizations. The Arts Education Project provides exposure to and participation in the diversity of dance, music, theatre and the visual arts

Over the past 3 years, Orcas Center has provided classroom-based dance and theatre instruction for students in grades K-8 and has introduced new visual arts curriculum for selected elementary grades.

Funding for the Arts Education Project is been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Orcas Island Community Foundation, Orcas Island Education Foundation, the Gould Family Foundation, and individuals.

“Mr. Dickens is Coming!” is underwritten by the Orcas Island Education Foundation. The event includes a pub-style fireside dinner created by Karen Hedge and Mary Russell. The event will take place on Tuesday, November 9 at 6 p.m. $50 per person minimum suggested donation.

Tickets are still available at the Orcas Center, 376-2281, www.orcascenter.org, or by calling Hedge at 376-4483.