David Copperfield (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Charles Dickens.

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 118

Beschreibung

One of Dickens's best-loved and most autobiographical stories, brilliantly and faithfully dramatised by Alastair Cording. All Dickens's marvellous creations are here: Mr Micawber, Uriah Heep, Mrs Peggotty, Murdstone, Steerforth and Betsey Trotwood. Weaving through the colourful maze of the storyline is David's hopeless infatuation with Emily – and eventual salvation in the arms of the long-suffering Agnes. Alastair Cording's stage adaptation skilfully concentrates on the essentials of the story while maintaining the colour, humour and drama of the book. Most notable is its fluidity, with each scene flowing into the next without the need for cumbersome scene changes – or much scenery at all. Performable by a cast of eight, if necessary, but equally offering good roles to thirty or more. 'One of the cleverest adaptations you are likely to see' - Ipswich Evening Star 'All the drama, pathos and humour of David Copperfield's eventful young life are vividly realised in this enthralling adaptation' - The Stage

Leseprobe

Charles Dickens's

DAVID COPPERFIELD

adapted for the stage by

Alastair Cording

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

The Adaptation and the Novel

Original Production

Characters

David Copperfield

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

The Adaptation and the Novel

David Copperfield is, at its core, about the exploration of couples and marriages, about the effects on adult life of childhood experience, and about Dickens’s consideration of the model for the perfect woman. It is also a plea for kindness and tolerance, and a condemnation of the twin vices of over-indulgence and self-righteous cruelty.

As David’s story unfolds, we are presented with a series of marriages and parent-child relationships. These range from the merciless rectitude of Murdstone’s marriage to David’s mother, the comic youthful folly of an inexperienced romantic young couple in David and Dora, the mutually supportive, platonic relationship of Betsey Trotwood and Mr Dick, the ruin of Emily’s life by Steerforth’s seduction, and the threatened nightmare of Agnes’s acceptance of Uriah Heep, to the final mature perfection of David’s love for Agnes. Throughout the tale is woven a repeated image of intense affection, in the gloriously eccentric Micawbers. Their chaotic life is redeemed by their unquestioning faith, trust, love, and – above all – respect, for each other. It is significant that the great crisis of the story – the final defeat of Uriah Heep – is provoked by the momentary breakdown of the Micawbers’ intimacy.

In contrast to the series of marriages and pairings is the linear development of the theme of childhood influence. In this, David’s ultimate survival of the horrors of Murdstone’s ruthlessness, the casual cruelty of Creakle’s ghastly school, and the mind-numbing drudgery of the bottle factory – is set against the destructive results of indulgence. Emily, Dora and Steerforth are each in some way disabled by a doting parent. The survival of David’s humanity is also compared to the development in Uriah Heep of a monstrous self-righteousness founded on an upbringing of harsh hypocrisy.

There are also the women in David’s life: the flawed perfection of his fragile mother, too innocent and too trustful; the defiant common sense and instinctive protectiveness of Clara Peggotty; the lively flirtatiousness of Little Emily, which betrays her into the romantic illusion of becoming a great lady; Aunt Betsey’s fierce independence; Dora’s cheerful innocence and inability to survive in a world uncushioned by her doting father’s misguided extravagance; the dignity and grandeur of Mrs Steerforth, twisted, by bitter disappointment in her son, into a vindictiveness against her son’s victim; and lastly Agnes, a long-suffering, self-sacrificing, intelligent, sweet-natured heroine whose love is recognised and won by David only after he has been tested to the limit by a life of hard knocks and cruel misfortunes.

Behind all is the social fabric of Victorian England, and Dickens’s striking vision of its vices, virtues and inequalities. These are symbolised in the story’s physical movement between the dark, confusing Babel of London, the vast-skyed, watery openness of East Anglia, and the Peggotty’s boat-house, half-way between the stultifying repetition of ordered getting and spending on the land, and the dangerous freedoms of the sea. The boat-house, which seems such a solid home at the start, is by the end a physical image of desolation and betrayal, just as the aristocratic hauteur and charm of Steerforth and his mother are transformed into images of moral desolation and betrayal.

Given the considerable scale of the novel, and Dickens’s unhesitating deployment of a regiment of minor characters, incidents and observations, this stage adaptation has concentrated on the essentials of David Copperfield’s story, endeavouring to maintain the colour, humour and drama of the book, while creating a strong theatrical entertainment. It is intended that a fluid, non-naturalistic style of presentation, and an intelligent use of doubling in the casting of the play, will underscore, contrast and draw comparisons to good effect; to take the fullest advantage of specifically theatrical effects and devices, rather than to be embarrassed by them.

As a result, much of the narrative in this version of David Copperfield is given to Peggotty and Agnes, as a means of establishing their intimacy with David, and of their significant involvement in his life. Some characters have vanished for the sake of dramatic clarity and some consolidated – most conspicuously Rosa Dartle and Mrs Steerforth. The Micawbers’ flamboyance has been indulged by a deliberately ‘operatic’ approach to their exchanges, to contrast their comic liveliness with the drudgery of David’s life, and with the deadening notions of respectability and moral rectitude. The order of certain incidents has also occasionally been changed, in particular the great storm which drowns Steerforth and Ham. This now comes after the emigration of the Peggottys and the Micawbers, to emphasise David’s loneliness as all the connections to his past life disappear. It also permits a properly theatrical response to such a melodramatic set-piece.

The aim throughout has been to translate David Copperfield for the theatre; to create an exciting, fast-paced, clear and engaging stage play, recreating the great concerns of a great novel.

Production Notes

There are twenty-four named parts in all, thirteen male and eleven female, most of them substantial character roles.

Young David should be played by an actress.

The staging can be extremely simple: Ivan Cutting’s original production for Eastern Angles Theatre Company made use of a brass double-bedstead which transformed into a huge variety of central props and settings: a horse-drawn cart, Peggotty’s cramped boat-house, a schoolroom row of desks, a ship under sail, and was even when required a double bed. The stage directions follow the progress of the bed; other design solutions are of course possible.

Alastair Cording

David Copperfield was first performed by Eastern Angles Theatre Company at the Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, on 12 September 1995, before touring. The cast was as follows:

CREAKLE / DANIEL PEGGOTTY

Sean Buckley

/ MR DICK

YOUNG DAVID / AGNES

Siobhánn Carolan

DORA / EMILY / MOTHER

Kirsten Clark

STEERFORTH / URIAH HEEP

Toby Davies

DAVID COPPERFIELD /

Mark Feakins

TRADDLES

BETSEY TROTWOOD /

Janet Jefferies

JANE MURDSTONE

MURDSTONE / MICAWBER /

Sévan Stephan

HAM

PEGGOTTY / MRS STEERFORTH

Claire Vousden

/ MRS MICAWBER

Director

Ivan Cutting

Designer

Fred Meller

Lighting Designer

Geoff Spain

The production was revived by Eastern Angles at the Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, on 2 April 2003, before touring. There were the following changes to the cast and creative team:

YOUNG DAVID / AGNES

Susanna Northern

DORA / EMILY / MOTHER

Emma Jerrold

STEERFORTH / URIAH HEEP

Graham O’Mara

DAVID COPPERFIELD /

Carl Prekopp

TRADDLES

MURDSTONE / MICAWBER /

Jon Atkins

HAM

Lighting Designer

Peter Higton

Characters

YOUNG DAVID COPPERFIELDDAVID COPPERFIELD

PEGGOTTY, David’s nurse and caretaker, Clara PeggottyDANIEL PEGGOTTY, Peggotty’s brotherHAM, Peggotty and Daniel’s nephewEMILY, Peggotty and Daniel’s niece

BETSEY TROTWOOD, David’s auntMOTHER, David’s mother, Clara CopperfieldEDWARD MURDSTONE, David’s stepfatherJANE MURDSTONE, Murdstone’s sister

CREAKLE, headmaster of Salem House SchoolTOMMY TRADDLES, a schoolboy at Salem HouseJAMES STEERFORTH, David’s schoolfriend

WILKINS MICAWBER, David’s landlord and friendMRS MICAWBER, Micawber’s wife

DICK, Richard Babley, Betsey’s companionAGNES WICKFIELD, daughter of Betsey’s lawyer, David’s confidanteDORA SPENLOW, daughter of one of David’s employers, David’s first wifeMRS STEERFORTH, Steerforth’s motherURIAH HEEP, a clerk

BARKIS, a coachmanMICK, a factory workerMEALY, a factory workerMARY ANNE PARAGON, a servant

Plus a DOCTOR, a GANG OF CREDITORS, a THIEF, a PAWNBROKER, a SOLDIER, SAILORS, and various other MEN, WOMEN, GIRLS and BOYS.

ACT ONE

Scene One

In the centre of the stage stands a brass bed loaded with luggage. The COMPANY swarm over it, hold a tableau, then go, leaving a carter – BARKIS – asleep with his back to us, and YOUNG DAVID and PEGGOTTY, half-asleep. PEGGOTTY pokes BARKIS awake.

BARKIS. Whoa.

PEGGOTTY. Master Davy.

PEGGOTTY and YOUNG DAVID get off. Enter HAM. The bed is pushed offstage to be transformed into the boat-house. YOUNG DAVID and PEGGOTTY gaze around. HAM picks up their luggage.

Ham? Ham – there’s a bag still to come off the cart. What does that driver-man Barkis think he’s about? Still awake, Master Davy? This is Ham, my brother Daniel’s boy. Ham? This is young Master David Copperfield, my very own Master Davy. Honest, Ham, it’s like we’ve been on the road for ever, there were so many things delivered on the way. Up lanes and down lanes – parcels and packets and even a bedstead for some tavern – and Barkis had no conversation beyond whistling to himself and snoozing. It’s as well the horse knew the Yarmouth road: you’d never have believed one man could have snored so much. Ah, Master Davy, my love, smell that air. Fish and pitch and oakum and tar and sea salt – and sailors! Proud I am to call myself a Yarmouth Bloater, for no one could doubt but Yarmouth is the finest place in the whole universe.

YOUNG DAVID. It’s awfully flat, Peggotty! And the land and the sea are all mixed up. Look! There’s a big black boat sailing on the ground over there!

HAM. Yon big black boat is our house, Master Davy.

YOUNG DAVID. Your house?

HAM. Aye, our house. She were a real boat once, Master Davy, and sailed the sea a thousand times, but now she has a roof and a door and windows in her sides –

PEGGOTTY. Tables and chairs and chests inside, and a clock and a painting of a lady with a parasol – everything just like in a proper house, but all snug and trim and cosy –

HAM. Just like a ship on the sea.

Enter DANIEL PEGGOTTY and EMILY.

DANIEL. Mr Davy, sir! Glad to see you. You’ll find us rough, sir, but you’ll find us ready. Say ‘hello’, Emily.

EMILY. Hello.

YOUNG DAVID. How do you do, Mr Peggotty. I am sure I shall be happy in such a wonderful house.

DANIEL. And how’s your ma, sir? Did you leave her pretty jolly?

PEGGOTTY. That we did, Dan. As jolly as may be.

DANIEL. Well, Master Davy, if you can make out here for a fortnight, we shall be proud of your company.

HAM. Come on, Master Davy, we’ll stow your gear, and Emily and me will show you around.

YOUNG DAVID, HAM and EMILY go.

DANIEL. Well, sister, you are with us again. (They embrace.) Never fear for the little lad. We’ll give him two weeks of sea air, good cheer and good plain vittles, and send him home with colour in his cheeks. And we’ll not be a-worrying beyond those two weeks, will we?

PEGGOTTY. No, Dan, you’re right, we won’t. There’ll be time aplenty for worrying, after. My, but it’s a treat to see you.

DANIEL. Little Emily seemed to think it a treat to see our Master Davy. Fair smitten with him, I thought.

PEGGOTTY. Are you turned matchmaker, then? I’ll maybe soon be asking you to land me a catch. Barkis the carter is always a-grinning and a-nudging, and a-mumbling he’s ‘willin’’. ‘Barkis is willin’.’ But willin’ to what, he never do say.

YOUNG DAVID returns. EMILY hovers in the background.

DANIEL. Well, Master Davy, I bet you never thought you’d be a-staying aboard Noah’s Ark!

YOUNG DAVID. Is that why you call your son ‘Ham’, then, because you live in an Ark?

DANIEL. Lord, no. His father gave it him.

YOUNG DAVID. I thought you were his father.

DANIEL. Bless you, no, sir. His father was my drowndead brother Joe.

YOUNG DAVID. But Emily’s your daughter?

DANIEL. No, my brother-in-law Tom was her father.

YOUNG DAVID. Drowndead, Mr Peggotty?

DANIEL. Drowndead, Master Davy. And her mother passed on afore that.

PEGGOTTY. Mr Peggotty adopted Emily and Ham, Davy, so they be not left poor orphans. And him but a poor man himself, but a man as good as gold and true as steel –

DANIEL. No more of that. I do only what the next man would do. Do you run along with Emily, Master Davy, and see the sights of Yarmouth. Emily! Take this young gentleman and show him the ocean!

PEGGOTTY, DANIEL and HAM go into the boat-house. EMILY and YOUNG DAVID join hands and run forward as if onto the seashore.

Scene Two

YOUNG DAVID. Mr Peggotty is very good.

EMILY. Uncle Dan? Yes, he is good. He is the best man in the world. If I was ever to be a lady, I’d give him a sky-blue coat with diamond buttons, nankeen trousers, a red-velvet waistcoat, a cocked hat, a large gold watch, a silver pipe, and a box of money.

YOUNG DAVID. Would you like to be a lady?

EMILY. Yes. Of course. We should all be gentlefolks then. You and me, and Uncle, and Ham and Aunt Peggotty. We wouldn’t mind then, when there come stormy weather – not for our own sakes, anyhow. We would for the poor fishermen’s, to be sure, and we’d help ’em with money when they come to any hurt.

YOUNG DAVID. I’ll marry you and make you a lady.

EMILY. You must ask my Uncle Dan, then. I know he’s not my real father, but he’s my adopted dad, so he can say yes when you ask for my hand.

PEGGOTTY returns and gazes fondly at the two children playing.

PEGGOTTY (to DANIEL). Like two young mavishes. They love each other as true and tender and pure and innocent as the best love there is.

DANIEL (looks to the sea). Tide’s full in. Soon be time for the ebb.

Scene Three

The bed as boat-house is pushed forward with PEGGOTTY and DANIEL sat on the side, and the children poking out from underneath. YOUNG DAVID is in the bosom of the family, beside EMILY. DANIEL finishes a jolly sea song.

DANIEL (sings).

Then up jumped the herring, the king of the sea,And said to the skipper, you’ll never catch me,In this windy old weather, boys, stormy old weather, boys,