TNT THEATRE presents
CHARLES DICKENS’
DAVID COPPERFIELD
Touring Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Zhuhai and
Zhongshan
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
DAVID COPPERFIELD was written in 1850 mid-way through Dickens’ career, and is probably the most autobiographical of his novels. In his own preface he describes it as “my favorite child”. Our approach has been to select certain narrative lines that illustrate the main themes. We have set out to explore and confront the subtext through modern eyes. Dickens himself selected the stories of Steerfroth, the Murdstone and Peggotty families as the basis for his own public readings from DAVID COPPERFIELD, which were among his most popular performances. In terms of form, we have followed many contemporary critics in defining DAVID COPPERFIELD as a “fairy tale”, and tried to reflect the dynamic and stylized musical theatre of Victorian London, which was itself a huge influence upon Dickens’ work.
DAVID COPPERFIELD is full of demanding and exciting theatricality. In the spirit of that theatricality we are animating the characters in an emotional stage world of compulsive vampirism and human warmth, physical possession and expression. The contradictions and dilemmas of the novels and our production are pressing problems of great drama in which we have all participated: the drama of growing up.
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