In 1855 Wilkie Collins presented his first original drama to Charles Dickens. Set in the Eddystone Lighthouse in 1748, Collins created a tense, psychological drama with elements of crime and the supernatural familiar to readers of his fiction. Initially staged at Dickens’s house, the role of the guilt-ridden old lighthouse keeper proved a vehicle for Dickens’s extraordinary acting ability, accompanied by members of his family and friends from within his literary and artistic circles. Dickens contributed a Prologue and ‘The Song of the Wreck’ for his daughter, Mary Dickens, to sing in character. Caroline Radcliffe rediscovered the music for the song and reconstructed it as it would have been heard in 1855. In her talk you will hear the first ever recording of Dickens’ beautiful song and his opening Prologue.
Dr Caroline Radcliffe is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts, University of Birmingham. She is currently writing a two-volume monograph on Wilkie Collins and the drama. She has edited first editions and written introductions for two of his previously unpublished plays, The Lighthouse and The Red Vial. Previous to her career in academia, Caroline was a freelance musician and actor, teaching at the Royal College of Music and touring nationally and internationally. Her multi-media, immersive performance installation, The Machinery, was recently awarded Arts Council England funding and will be showing in Birmingham this year.
Illustration: Front cloth for The Lighthouse at Tavistock House by Clarkson Stanfield. © Dickens House Museum
Please book by 1pm on the day of the lecture.
Free to members / non-members £5.