Publisher, Naxos Audiobooks (November 2011)

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Hard Times is Dickens’s most political novel. Set in the industrial north of England, in Coketown, he examines the lives of working people, who are taught by the capitalists Gradgrind and Bounderby to think only of the facts of life and not to indulge in imagination. Gradgrind’s own children have been so educated and as a result are dysfunctional and disconnected from their feelings. Only the travelling circus company of Sleary seems to offer any hope of humanity in Coketown. Hard Times is a deeply moving story written in anger to strike a blow for the victims of the dehumanising processes of industry.

About the Performer: One of Britain’s leading classical actors, Anton lesser has worked extensively at the National Theatre, and is an associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company, where, over the years, he has played many of the principal roles, including Romeo, Troilus, Petruchio and Richard III. His many television appearances include roles in The Cherry Orchard, King Lear, The Politician’s Wife, Vanity Fair, Perfect Strangers, and Dickens. Films in which he has appeared include Charlotte Gray, Fairytale – A True Story, Imagining Argentina, River Queen, and most recently, Miss Potter. A familiar voice on radio, he has been involved in countless plays and recordings, and has become particularly associated with his award winning readings of Dickens for Naxos AudioBooks.