If I chose to do so, I could put on my resume the word
"Actress"....well, not really.
I suppose I was
just a cast member in the musical play Oliver,
dancing and singing my heart out hoping to please
the audience. Actress hardly applies in my case.
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I've thought of that time now and then, and
I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.
During the long hours of rehearsals,
there is one thing that's probably stayed
with me all these years, more than anything else.
Meeting Charles Dickens, through his words and
the characters in Oliver, told me a lot about the
man and his heart.
The characters in
his books reveal a lot about him, and were real,
taken from his life
experiences in London, England.
Dickens knew what it was like to be poor.
He had been poor and he had seen poverty.
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Oliver Twist, in the poor house.
"Please sir, I want some more."
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Born in 1812, Charles Dickens was a small frail boy who liked lantern shows,
singing with his sister Fanny, and reading and re-reading books.
His favorites were Don Quixote, Arabian Nights and
Robinson Crusoe. One day his father went to debtors prison
and Charles's idyllic life came to a halt. His young childhood
was spent working ten hours a day in a factory. This experience
was agonizing for Dickens and would become the motivation
for his fiction. Charles Dickens knew all too well,
the sufferings of the lower class.
He would tell their stories and do much more than that.
As a man, Dickens wrote ninety pages a month. While finishing
one novel, he was beginning another. He edited journals,
acted in plays, did charity work, raised 10 children, and gave
readings to Queen Victoria.
How do you suppose this man's storytelling dominated
the English society of his time?
A man who's beginnings were in poverty,
accomplished greatness in his writings with no team of
writers producing his books.
Still today, we are reading Dickens,
and wondering of his genius.
Will there ever be another Dickens?
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Have a great week!.... Dee Dee
