Research Catalog

Title

Emlyn Williams as Charles Dickens [videorecording] / produced by Arthur Cantor.

Publication

New York : Arthur Cantor, [n.d.]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Williams, Emlyn, 1905-1987
• Clark, Colin, 1932-2002

Description

1 videocassette (120 min.) : sd., col.; 1/2 in.

Summary

For forty years, Emlyn Williams has traveled the world over with his one-man show "Charles Dickens." In this document of a live performance at the Mountview Theatre School, London, Williams demonstrates his mastery of storytelling and acting techniques and weaves his way through nearly a dozen of Dickens' stories. The piece of furniture at which the actor stands is an exact copy of the desk used by Dickens. "Carefully designed by Dickens, it is a cunningly simple affair, with a raised rest for the arm and a ledge for the water glass and the inevitable white gloves - as inevitable as the red geranium in the buttonhole. In adapting carefully but freely, the actor has thought it only fair to assume that his audience knows nothing of the book in question, his aim being to make each item complete and totally comprehensible." Excerpts include: 1) "Moving in society" (from Our mutual friend, 1886): A British clerk entertains the British bourgeoisie. 2) "A Call upon a strange man" (from Sketches by Boz, 1836): A mad woman accosts a doctor entreating him to resurrect her executed son. 3) "Mrs. Gamp" (from Martin Chuzzlewit, 1849): A portrait of a coarse and alcoholic nurse, whose duties consist primarily of attending the newly born and the newly dead and who had a face for every occasion. 4) "Paul" (from Dombey and son, 1848): A portrait of the merchant, Dombey's solitary son, a recluse and dreamer. 5) "Mr. Chops" (from Christmas stories, 1858): Mr. Chops, a dwarf and circus performer wins a fortune in the lottery but finds the money to be an intolerable albatross, prompting him to return to the life of the big top. 6) "Once upon a time" (from The Battle of life, 1846): A contemplation of a battlefield where thousands were killed in a senseless war and which is now overtaken by nature. 7) "The Fancy ball" (from A Tale of two cities, 1859): This vignette involving a Marquis, a carriage and the death of a child serves as a prelude to revolution. 8) "A Bedtime story for a good child" (from The Uncommercial traveler, 1860): A young boy's nanny tells him the macabre story, The Tale of a pie, concerning a murderous cannibalistic Captain intent on marrying a woman who can make a perfect pie crust.

Subjects

• Authors, English
• Theater
• Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870
• Literature

Credits (note)

• Director, Colin Clark; camera, Nick Hale; editor, Gary Keating; sound, David Jones.

Performer (note)

• Emlyn Williams.

Title

Emlyn Williams as Charles Dickens [videorecording] / produced by Arthur Cantor.

Imprint

New York : Arthur Cantor, [n.d.]

Credits

Director, Colin Clark; camera, Nick Hale; editor, Gary Keating; sound, David Jones.

Cast

Emlyn Williams.

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Added Author

Williams, Emlyn, 1905-1987, actor.

Clark, Colin, 1932-2002, director.

Branch Call Number

VTH 1904 E