Dickensblog

More photos from the birthplace:

Here are a couple of pictures of the font where Charles was baptized, which now resides in the Copnor Parish Church of St. Alban.

Here's the grave of Maria Beadnell, Dickens's first love.

And here's the grave of Georgina Hayman, said to be a model for Little Dorrit. (Not the only one; the curio cabinet you can see in some of the birthplace photos contained a ring owned by Mary Ann Cooper, also said to be a model for Little Dorrit!)

Dickens bicentennial display at Blackwell's Bookstore. Unfortunately, the glare on the glass prevented the poster from coming out very clearly, but at least you can see the books.

Interior of the King's Theatre, where saw a new adaptation of Barnaby Rudge.

As you can imagine, it's not easy to dramatize this novel; it took Eileen Norris, who adapted and directed it (and was also at the conference) many years to do it. But the result was worth seeing. It was done as a play-within-a-play, and managed to convey something of the epic scope of the novel despite the limitations of the stage and the largely episodic format.  Most of the actors were good, and some — especially those playing Barnaby, Hugh, Miggs, Simon Tappertit, and Geoffrey Haredale — were wonderful. Grip the Raven's part was quite cleverly done, too. And a lot of the costumes were fantastic (although Dolly's made her look a little too much like Scarlett O'Hara). You can read more about the production here.

And believe it or not, I'm still not done! More photos tomorrow!