This show was written by Adam Long, a founder member of the Reduced Shakespeare Company. It attempts to cover, or at least mention, every one of Charles Dickens books as well as telling his life story in performance and song.
The performance begins with the appearance of a band of four musicians, the largest Charles Dickens tribute band in Santa Cruz and Charles Dickens himself then appears. The first book is to be Oliver Twist and the band goes into a rapid run through of Oliver! Dickens is horrified; he was trying to expose the horrors of Victorian England not write a story about a group of happy scamps. In his story Fagin is hanged and the Artful Dodger transported to Australia; they certainly dont go skipping off into the sunset.
After this much of the show concentrates on Dickens life and shows how his experiences led him to sympathise with the poor and downtrodden and write about their lives in his books, particularly in David Copperfield. Bleak House and Great Expectations are covered very briefly and the performance ends with A Christmas Carol.
The show is enjoyable but doesnt completely succeed in its stated aim 35 books in an hour was perhaps a bit ambitious.
