Press & PR
WRITTEN BY ADAM LONG
DESIGNED BY LEZ BROTHERSTON
LIGHTING DESIGNED BY JON CLARK
DIRECTED BY ADAM LONG
TO OPEN AT THE COMEDY THEATRE IN LONDON
ON FRIDAY 23 MAY WITH A PRESS NIGHT ON 9 JUNE
DICKENS UNPLUGGED is a new musical comedy by American Adam Long. The show is an hilarious journey through the best of Dickens’ classic works and into the twisted corners of the author’s colourful life. DICKENS UNPLUGGED will open at the Comedy Theatre in London on Friday 23 May with a press night on Monday 9 June.
This is the life and works of Charles Dickens as never seen before. It’s fast, furious and in five-part harmony. This unique interpretation will give audiences a light-hearted insight into an incredible man: from his bleak childhood to his complicated marriage, numerous children and his final years. With instruments from acoustic guitar to accordion and harmonica to horns, and using an incredible mix of musical styles, the cast give voice to a host of Dickens' most eccentric and loved characters. Oliver Twist, Tiny Tim, David Copperfield, Miss Havisham, Charles Darnay and many more appear in Adam Long’s 20 original songs which include ‘Aint Goin Back To Blackin’ and 'Far Far Better Thing'.
DICKENS UNPLUGGED was commissioned in 2006 for the 2007 Edinburgh Festival 2007 and a new production, with a new set by Lez Brotherston, was a co-production with the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford in February this year.
DICKENS UNPLUGGED will be making West End history as the first show to play a Wednesday to Monday performance schedule. For full details see overleaf.
Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in Portsmouth in February 1812 and died in Kent on 2 June 1870. His work has been prolifically adapted for the stage and notable stage productions include Pickwick which began a long West End run with Sir Harry Secombe in 1963, a 1970 stage and film musical Scrooge!, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s blockbusting two-part version of Nicholas Nickleby and Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, which first opened in London in 1960 with Ron Moody and which subsequently won Carol Reed an Oscar for his film version in 1968. This year will see a revival of the show with Rowan Atkinson as ‘Fagin’ and a ‘Nancy’ to be decided by the hit primetime BBC TV reality series I’d Do Anything.
Adam Long was a founding member of The Reduced Shakespeare Company. From 1987-2003, he co-wrote and performed The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), The Complete History of America (abridged), The Reduced Shakespeare Radio Show for the BBC World Service, and The Ring Reduced, a 30 minute version of Wagner's Ring Cycle for Channel 4 television.
In 1996, Long directed the London production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) which was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Comedy in 1997, and ran for 9 years at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus. Long subsequently co-wrote and starred in The Barn which won a British Independent Film Award in 2004 - The Raindance Award, for the film which best embodies the spirit of independent filmmaking. In 2006, he wrote and performed Star Wars Shortened for Lucasfilm and BskyB, and The Condensed History of Tony Blair for BBC Radio 4. He is currently writing the condensed histories of the major British political parties, also for BBC Radio 4, for broadcast in summer 2008.
Lez Brotherston is an Associate Artist of Matthew Bourne’s company, New Adventures. He has received the Tony Award for Swan Lake (Adventures in Motion Pictures), Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for Set and Costume for Cinderella and most recently a Critics’ Circle Award for his outstanding achievement in design for dance. Notable credits include In Celebration in the West End, The Vortex, Much Ado About Nothing (RSC), Sugar Mummies (Royal Court Theatre), Little Foxes (Donmar Warehouse), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Japan/Sadlers Wells) and Edward Scissorhands (New Adventures). Musicals include Into The Woods (Royal Opera House), Brighton Rock (Almeida Theatre & West End), Acorn Antiques, My One and Only and Spend Spend Spend (all West End). Films include Letter to Brezhnev, Swan Lake and The Car Man.
The cast of DICKENS UNPLUGGED includes Joseph Attenborough, Matthew Hendrickson, Simon Jermond, Adam Long and Gabriel Vick.
DICKENS UNPLUGGED is presented in London by Mark Goucher and Wimpole Theatre (in association with the Araca Group New York) whose recent hits have included The Anniversary, Whipping It Up, The Vagina Monologues, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Footloose, Fame and Saturday Night Fever.