The Great Dickens Christmas Fair Missive
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Dickens Christmas Fair 2012
Charles Dickens Bicentennial Celebrations
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Notes from your Missive Maven:
We
are rapidly approaching the 200th anniversary of the birth of our
progenitor, the illustrious Charles Dickens, on February 7th. There are
celebrations and exhibits planned all over the world, including a very
special event this Saturday by our friends at PEERS.
We are busy
planning celebrations that will take place at this years Great Dickens
Christmas Fair and will keep you informed. We invite your creative
input! Please email your ideas suggestions to office@redbarnproductions.org.
We also have a page on the Dickens 2012 website:
Many thanks to Rickie Bolin, Therese Porter, Cathleen Myers and Heidi B for their contributions to this missive.
Cat Taylor
Entertainment Director and Missive Maven
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In This Missive
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PEERS: The Charles Dickens Bicentennial Ball - This Saturday
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A Biography
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A Wreathlaying Ceremony in Westminster Abbey
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Exhibitions Around the World
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New Books
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Recent Print Articles
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Online Articles & Resources
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PEERS: The Charles Dickens Bicentennial Ball
(A Celebration of Mr Charles Dickens' 200th Birthday)
Saturday, February 4, 2012
The Masonic Lodge of San Mateo
Doors Open: 6:45 pm
Dance Lesson: 7:00 pm
Theatrical Performance by Charles Dickens: 8:00 pm
Formal Dancing Begins: 9:00 pm
Celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens'
birth at a formal Victorian Ball and theatrical performance hosted
by Prime Minister Lord Palmerston for Her Majesty Queen Victoria and
His Royal Highness Prince Albert.
Dance beautiful rotary
waltzes, polkas, mazurka waltzes, schottisches, quadrilles, and
other set dances popular during the time of Charles Dickens,
beautifully arranged by Bangers & Mash, the finest band in Dickens' London. All set dances will be briefly taught or called at the ball.
Mr. Dickens himself (Robert Young) will open the ball with a
dramatic reading of one of his most exciting scenes, "Sykes and
Nancy," adapted from Oliver Twist. This is a thrilling theatrical
re-creation not to be missed! Also performing are Miss Fanny Price
and Mr. Daniel Boozer of the Peerless Music Hall and the celebrated
"Swedish Nightingale," Miss Jenny Lind.
The nominal year of our
event is 1855, but suggested costume is evening dress from the time
of Mr. Dickens' active literary career (1837-1871) or modern
evening dress. Given the talent of our San Francisco Bay Area
costumers, this should be an extremely beautiful costume evening,
but, as always, costumes are admired but not required.
Punch and a light Olde English snack will be served (Your potluck
contributions to Lady Palmerston's kitchen are most appreciated).
Red
Barn Productions and Foolish Tree Films will be creating a YouTube
piece of the evening to co-promote PEERS and the Dickens Fair for the
Bicentennial. It will be posted on his actual birthday February 7th!
For more information, please see: http://www.peers.org/Dickens.html
PEERS will also be hosting the
Charles Dickens Picnic Dance
in Alameda's beautiful Lincoln Park
Saturday, August 4, 2012
http://www.peers.org/dickenspicnic.html
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| A Biography
(from Therese Porter)
Charles John
Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 in Landport, Portsea. The
second of the eight children of John and Elizabeth Dickens - charming
but impecunious members of the struggling genteel class - he grew grew
up to become one of the greatest and most loved writers of the 19th
century.
 | | From Charles Dickens at the V&A |
His family moved almost constantly
throughout his childhood, eventually confining their peregrinations to
London and its immediate environs; Dickens came to know - and describe -
the city so well that is forever associated with him. He received
little formal education, and at the age of twelve was sent to work in a
shoeblacking factory after his father was consigned to debtors prison.
The sprectre of poverty, debt, and the hardships of children would
forever haunt his prose.
After a passionate but thwarted love affair with Maria Beandnell, a
banker's daughter, he married Catherine Hogarth, the daughter of a
Scots family prominent in the arts. He and Catherine had ten children,
and although the marriage was initially happy it eventually ended in a
scandalous legal separation, in part due to his involvement with Ellen
Ternan, a young actress.
Throughout his life he pursued multiple careers as a journalist,
critic, amateur actor and stage manager, playwright and philanthropist.
Although his quick mind, lively intelligence, penetrating curiosity and
prodigious energy would have allowed him to succeed in any of these
professions, the world is blessed by his turning in his young manhood to
writing for his living. He went on to create some of the most enduring
characters in literature, rivaling even Shakepeare. Oliver Twist,
Samuel Pickwick, Sam Weller, Miss Havisham, Mrs Gamp, Nicholas
Nickleby, and so many more - these uniquely realised characters live as
vividly today as they did to his earliest readers. His deep interest
in the problems of his time generated real change and controversy in
his lifetime, and the term "Dickensian" still has the power to invoke
certain conditions. His life was as intriguing and filled with wonder
as any of his novels, and many of the situations and people he
encountered found their ways into his works.
He virtually invented the modern Christmas with a series of
Yuletide themed books and stories, the most popular of which was "A
Christmas Carol," published in 1843. Renowned for his lively and lavish
entertaining, he was himself a great celebrator and promoter of
Christmas for most of his life.
In many ways Dickens was the harbinger of the modern celebrity
author and in his time he was universally known, loved and celebrated.
He traveled extensively on the Continent and visited America twice.
The last several years of his life were spent giving wildly popular
dramatic readings of his written works. He died of a stroke at the age
of 58 in 1870, at his country home of Gads Hill and was buried in
Westminster Abbey.
His works are still read, taught and adapted to the stage and screen, and none of his works has gone out of print.
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A Wreathlaying Ceremony in Westminster Abbey
 | Bicentenary Commemoration
at Westminster Abbey |
A wreathlaying ceremony will take place in Poets' Corner,
Westminster Abbey, at 11am on Tuesday 7 February 2012. The ceremony
will include readings from the Dickens's novels and his other
writings by actor and director Ralph Fiennes, author Claire
Tomalin and two of Dickens's descendants.
The
Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, said: 'Dickens'
humanity and compassion made an extraordinary impact on Victorian
England through his writings, which remain immensely popular. This
bicentenary should help renew our commitment to improving the lot of
the disadvantaged of our own day.' All tickets for this event have now been allocated. Click on the photo to visit the Dickens 200 website. |
Exhibitions Around the World
Dickens 2012: http://www.dickens2012.org/section/exhibitions - a master list of sorts that compiles major events, exhibitions, performances and other resources from around the world. The Dickens Project at University of California at Santa Cruz http://dickens.ucsc.edu/ The Museum of London: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/London-Wall/Whats-on/Exhibitions-Displays/Dickens-London/Default.htm - information on the exhibit that will be at the Museum of London until June 10th. Charles Dickens' London: Death, Duplicity And Opium Dens Revealed http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/08/dickens-london-death-christmas-carol-opium-oliver-twist_n_1135890.html - an article on the exhibit; from the Huffington Post. A Tale of one man and his city...  http://www.victorianamagazine.com/archives/14101 - another article on the exhibit; from Victorian Magazine British Library: A Hankering after Ghosts: Charles Dickens and the Supernatural http://www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/cdickens/index.html - an exhibit on Dickens' fascination with the supernatural. http://www.bl.uk/learning/tarea/secondaryfehe/dickenslectures/dickenslectureseries.html - an online lecture series to accompany the exhibit on Dickens' interest in supernatural phenomena. http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/dickens/dickenshome.html - "Dickens in Context" - resources to investigate the key themes of Dickens's novels. University of Delaware: Dickens at 200 http://www.lib.udel.edu//ud/spec/exhibits/dickens/index.html - a virtual version of the exhibition that will be in the University of Delaware library until June 8th. A Virtual Exhibition: The Extraordinary Life of Charles Dickens http://www.charlesdickensonline.com/ - a Dickens enthusiast's virtual collection of portraits, plays, manuscripts, etc. |
| Online Articles & Resources
Dickens's London in Pictures
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/charles-dickens/9018185/Dickenss-London-in-pictures.html Charles Dickens in Pictures http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/charles-dickens/8954312/Charles-Dickens-in-pictures.html
The Dickens Project's Mini-Documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJgV87yGBSs
Time Magazine
http://entertainment.time.com/tag/top-10-charles-dickens-novels/
-Building up to
Charles Dickens' birthday, TIME will be posting commentary on novel a
day in a countdown to the top Dickens novel of all time.
The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/29/110829fa_fact_lepore
A.Word.A.Day Contest for Original "Wellerisms"
http://wordsmith.org/words/wellerism.html
Pop Matters
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/153712-the-curious-case-of-the-closure-of-the-charles-dickens-museum/
David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page
http://charlesdickenspage.com/
DickensBlog
http://dickensblog.typepad.com/dickensblog/
- A blog for all things Dickens: quotes, reflections, adaptations, references and tributes from other authors, and more.
The Victorian Web
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/index.html
- a comprehensive
list of resources, printed and on the web. Includes information on
historical context, scholarly writing on themes/characterization/etc
and other commentary and imagery.
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For specific questions regarding performing at the Fair, please email Cat Taylor
If your group would like to perform at the Fair for just one day (school caroling groups, etc.)
please email Robert Young
For specific questions regarding vending at the Fair please email Vendors
For specific questions the beverage department please email Beverage
For questions regarding costumes, please email Costumes
To join the public email list, please click here http://www.dickensfair.com/informed
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