Saturday's Wicked Dickens Readings were a Wicked Good Time - A Big Thank You

A big thank you to all our readers and enraptured audience members at our Wicked Dickens event last Saturday, October 13th. Charles Dickens loved performing on the stage, and his literary masterpieces are easily translated into dramatic renditions. Four villainous scenes were performed at the event.

The line up included Nani Swaminathan (reading from her phone in true steampunk fashion) as Miss Havisham of Great Expectations, Matt Hurwitz as Bradley Headstone of Our Mutual Friend, Melissa Juchniewicz as Madame Defarge of Tale of Two Cities, and Dale Young as Bill Sikes of Oliver Twist. The weather was fine (sun shining brightly in the background of all of these photos) the cider was good the cheer was abundant.

From now until the end of December, you can see nine nefarious steampunk inspired bust representations of Dickensian villains along with a life-sized steampunk mannequin of Mr. Dickens himself on the first floor of the library. This show is sponsored by ModVic and the Pollard Memorial Library.

Of course, all of this Dickensian fun wouldn’t be possible without the yearlong Dickens in Lowell celebration. And the fun’s not over yet! Just this week there are two amazing events going on:

“Asking for More: Dickens in Nigeria”
Thursday, October 18, 2012, 7 p.m., O’Leary Library Room 222, free admission
Asking for More: Dickens in Nigeria is a new play conceived by Robert Omoyeni, directed by Obehi Janice, and devised/performed by an ensemble of Nigerian immigrants from Lowell, Massachusetts.

Dickens’ Women by Miriam Margolyes
Friday, Oct. 19, 2012, 7:30 p.m., admission: $5 students and seniors, $10 general admission at the door and via Brown Paper Tickets . 
UMass Lowell, Durgin Concert Hall, 35 Wilder St., Lowell, MA.
Charles Dickens created some of the most memorable characters in all of English literature. Now you can watch them come vividly to life when award-winning British character actress Miriam Margolyes brings her acclaimed one-woman show to Lowell. “I’ve been a passionate admirer of Dickens all my life,” says Margoyles, best known to American audiences for her exuberant performance as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films. “I want to share with you my relish in his humor, variety, and vitality.”

More information about these events and others at www.uml.edu/dickens.