The Complete Works of Charles Dickens (Condensed)

2m, 1w (any ages)

Three actors take on a broad-ranging body of work and present it in shortened, comic form. Sound familiar? It's been done with Shakespeare, the Bible, and American history. Dickens now gets the same sort of treatment in The Complete Works of Charles Dickens (Condensed).

Through the use of name tags and limited audience participation, these three actors (two men; one woman) take the audience from Dickens' early essays to his masterworks, spending the most time on an oft-interrupted Bleak House and a foreshortened Tale of Two Cities. Lots of other works are crammed in too, including a This Is Your Life segment with Ebenezer Scrooge and a five-minute Nicholas Nickleby.

The set need consist of only a couple of chairs, and costuming needs are limited. When a low-budget, fast-moving comedy is needed, consider The Complete Works of Charles Dickens (Condensed).