List $12.00

Written by Charles Dickens - Performed by George Harland - Original Radio Theater - Fiction - 1 COMPACT DISC - 60 minutes

Publisher, Cape Cod Radio Theater Mystery Theater / CCRMT (1996)

A superb ‘radio thriller’ that predates the medium itself. In 1870 Charles Dickens gave his last public performance of his sensational, dramatic reading of Sikes and Nancy, the Murder from Oliver Twist. CCRMT and London actor, George Harland, team up to recreate this Victorian thriller exactly as it was done by Dickens and with the same stupendous effect.

Listeners are transported back to St. James Hall, Piccadilly, first to eavesdrop backstage on a heated discussion between George Dolby, Dickens’ road manager, and his physician, Dr. Beard, about whether the Chief should be allowed to go on stage to perform yet again another strenuous reading of his murder scene, which although popular, is now posing a grave risk to the Chief’s own health. For Dickens these performances have become something of an obsession.

The listener is then given a front row seat to enjoy this superb performance, powerfully recreated by George Harland, exactly as it was done by Dickens over a century ago.

From the annotated reading script, Berg Collection, New York Public Library. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.