TNT THEATRE BRITAIN presents:
DAVID COPPERFIELD
by Charles Dickens
adapted and directed by Paul Stebbings
music composed by Thomas Johnson
Dickens called his novel David Copperfield his “favourite child”. It was his most personal novel and reflected his own younger years. The book explores powerful and profound themes such as the influence of a troubled childhood on our adult lives and the pain caused by families torn between love and hate. And because Dickens was always concerned with the wider world, the book examines the conflict between the modern city and the countryside, and even the contrasting worlds dominated by land and sea.
This masterpiece reveals Dickens as the first truly modern author, the first writer to explore the industrial world. Through extraordinary use of character, comedy and pathos as well virtuoso story-telling Dickens maps out the break down of traditional society in the face of modern life.
TNT first dramatised DAVID COPERFIELD over ten years ago. This new production will build on the international success of the original version, but expand and deepen the project with new scenes and music. Comedy, tragedy, melodrama, romance and music will combine to create a rich theatrical feast to reflect the diversity and depth of Dickens original.
We will not attempt to stage the whole of this long novel, but chose to concentrate on David himself, his tortured family, the fishing folk who adopt him and the devilish charmer Steerforth. The play shifts between the rural seaside idyll of Yarmouth and the dark forbidding megapolis of London – a darkness that Steerforth takes back to Yarmouth with terrifying consequences. » (Paul Stebbings)
Instrumentation (live): clarinet, accordion, violin and four part harmony singing.
"A fascinating and highly entertaining exploration of the collapse of family life in the modern world" *South China Morning Post*
"TNT are known as the best touring theatre company in the world" *CC TV*
"World class theatre" *Observer UK*
"True music theatre" *Classical Music magazine London*
