A Transition Day and a Pleasant Surprise

Tags

A Christmas Carol, Byers' Choice, Charles Dickens, Dickens and Staplehurst. A Biogrpahy of a Rail Crash, Philadelphia

Sunday 8 November was a transition day during which I relocated from Omaha to Philadelphia – no shows, no appearances, no work.

After such a successful day’s performing on Saturday (indeed, I would go so far as to say that it was one of the best day’s performing that I can remember), I found it very difficult to get to sleep when I returned to the Element. My head was buzzing and the adrenaline still flowing late into the evening. I sat up eating Mario’s beautiful food and watched one of the later Harry Potter movies (I’m not sure which – possibly The Order of the Phoenix), before I drifted to sleep. Unfortunately I was awake again at 1, and then again at 3, which was extremely frustrating. To add to my woes the clocks went back an hour, so when I woke for a third time at 5am, it was actually only 4! (The clocks went back a week ago in England, so I’d already been through this once)

There was not much to be done – no lines to rehearse or costumes to collate, so I read for a little before getting up and starting to pack my cases ready for my flight out of Omaha, which wasn’t due to leave until 1.30 pm. When I dressed I made sure that I put on some of my brightest and most colourful socks (from the perfectly named Happy Socks company), so that when I removed my boots at the airport later that day I may bring a smile to the TSA agents and my fellow passengers.

At around 7.30 I had breakfast and then returned to the room where I watched a little more Harry Potter (one of the channels was running a Potter weekend, showing all the films back to back over and over again).

As 11 am was check-out time, I left room 615 and went to the lobby where I boarded the hotel shuttle bus, driven by the effervescent Ray, who regaled me with tales of other guests and passengers, some of whom had dared to criticise his driving style…..I kept quiet. The drive to Ebbley Airfield is only about twenty minutes, and soon I was pulling my cases into the small airport. At the baggage drop counter the lady not only took my large blue suitcase (which I was relieved to discover came in under weight for domestic travel), but also suggested that I checked my smaller roller case as well, as the planes I would be flying on were small and were fully booked meaning that overhead bin space would be limited. Usually I keep the small case with me at all times, as it has a costume in it, meaning I can go on stage even if the large case is lost, but as on this occasion I had no performances scheduled for a couple of days I decided to trust Delta Airlines and therefore gave myself an easier journey through the airport.

The line at security was long and I was glad that I didn’t have my roller case, as a little metal cleat holding the shoulder shoulder strap of my leather satchel (a gift from Liz l, embossed with my initials) had broken meaning that I was having to carry it under my arm, rather than slung casually and rakishly over my shoulder. Sadly my bright socks didn’t garner any attention or raise any smiles – but I tried!

Ebbley Airport is not a large hub so there was no long walk to my gate where I settled down and waited. I had a small salad for my lunch and read some more of my book, and watched people until we were called to board. The flight was indeed very busy but everyone dutifully observed the mask rule in our little sealed petri dish. The first flight lasted only an hour and took me into the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul – a conurbation that is very well known to me, having performed in the area many times. As we flew in I could even recognise the apartment block where Liz and I had lived when I performed ‘To Begin With’ a few years ago.

The layover at Minneapolis was only a short one, so I had to make good progress through the airport from concourse C to F. I had time, though, to stop at a store and purchase myself a new water bottle (having left mine at home in the UK), and a small metal carabiner which was the perfect item to effect a repair to my bag.

I arrived at gate F1 just as boarding was commencing and once again the flight was packed to capacity. I would be flying to Philadelphia and this plane was larger and more modern, boasting seat back video entertainment. I scrolled through all of the choices available to me and in the end decided to re watch the movie version of Downton Abbey – it was very strange to know that I will be performing A Christmas Carol in that very house in just a few weeks time. The film is all a bit silly, but fun nonetheless.

Outside the window a most beautiful transition from day into night was occurring, with a red and gold sunset shrinking from a bright midnight blue in the centre of which Venus shone brightly next to a slim crescent moon.

Having admired the scene I turned my attention back to the film. Here is a very curious trivia fact about the film of Downton Abbey – did you know that the running time is exactly the same length as a flight from Minneapolis/St Paul to Philadelphia? You didn’t? Well, you do now! The closing credits were rolling just as our wheels touched down on Pennsylvanian soil.

As I walked through the airport I discovered why all American passengers are so diligent at wearing their masks, a recorded announcement reminded us of the fines imposed for violation – $1,500 for the first ‘offence’ and $3,000 for a second or subsequent infringement. That’s steep.

At baggage claim I was met by Bob Byers for the first time on this year’s trip – Bob and his wife Pam have managed my American trips for many years and are very good friends, as well as colleagues. This year’s trip had of course been planned around the Pandemic and it was inevitable that some venues would fall by the wayside and that was the case with a contract out in California, which should have occupied these few days. Unfortunately the venue in question didn’t feel that it could provide a suitably safe environment for their staff and audiences and regretfully cancelled the booking. This left Pam with a rather large hole to fill, but the Broad Street United Methodist Church in Burlington New Jersey leapt at the chance of having me back, hence my journeying to the East. Bob and Pam have an apartment in Philadelphia and had very kindly offered it to me as a base during these days. Burlington is not far from Phily, so I could easily drive there on the show day (using Bob’s car – more of which on another blog post), and I could play tourist on my free days.

When Bob and I arrived at the Condo, right in the very heart of the City, Pam was waiting for us and had cooked a delicious dinner – much needed – and we all sat and chatted and caught up with each other’s news.

There was a lovely surprise waiting for me too, for on the kitchen counter lay a copy of ‘Dickens and Staplehurst. A Biography of a Rail Crash.’ My book! My very first book! And it looked like a book, it felt like a book: it was real! Dickens and Staplehurst was actually published on October 28th, but the publisher had not yet sent me a copy, so this was the very first time that I had actually seen it. I felt a surge of pride holding the volume in my hand.

Now, like any author, the writing of the book is only half the job – I have to sell copies too, so here is the commercial: When I perform ‘The Signalman’ I have always introduced the piece by talking about Dickens’s involvement in the great Staplehurst rail crash that took place on 9th June, 1865. Dickens was truly fortunate to survive and wrote many letters detailing the shock he suffered in assisting with the rescue effort – 10 people were killed and many more seriously injured. I have always been fascinated by the many stories behind the accident – how did it happen, how could it have been averted, who was involved and what was learned? And a couple of years ago I started to dig more deeply and researched more diligently, and now the results of that research are available to all.

Copies of the book are available via a link on my website geralddickens.com, or if you would like a personalised signed copy you can order them direct from me by sending me an email to gerald@geralddickens.com.

Back in the apartment Bob and Pam made sure that I had everything I needed, said their goodbyes, and drove to their main home in Bucks County.

I lay in bed thinking that I could now add ‘author’ to ‘actor, director and producer’ in my publicity materials and with that happy thought I drifted off to sleep

The End of the Tour: Happy Birthday and a Lamb Pasanda

Tags

A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Carol film, Byers' Choice, Henley-on-Thames, Liverpool, Orgin8 Photography, St George's Hall, The River Mersey, The Spice Merchant, The Wirall, Thornton Hall Hotel and Spa

My extensive 2020 tour of three venues continued and concluded over this weekend as the country was plunged ever deeper into more complicated layers of lockdown.

On Saturday morning I loaded my car with the various pieces of my set (carefully designed to fit into the rear of a Renault Kadjar) and set a course for The Wirral – the beautiful peninsula to the south of the River Mersey. In past years I have regularly performed in the city of Liverpool, specifically at The St George’s Hall where Charles himself gave readings, but harsh restrictions in the city led to a nervousness of many venues to stage events meaning that Lynne Hamilton, the producer who promotes my shows in this region, had to search for alternative sites. With time rapidly running out to organise and market a show Lynne finally came to an arrangement with the Thornton Hall Hotel and Spa, and the date was to be the 19th December, the anniversary of the day that A Christmas Carol had been published in 1843. It seemed as if the stars were truly aligning.

My SatNav set I made the journey north on roads which were very much quieter than in more more normal years of yore. The hotel sits on the outskirts of the very pretty village of Thornton Hough which was originally built as a model village by a mill owner in 1866 before being developed by William Lever as a community for his executive staff working at the Sunlight Soap factory nearby.

Having checked in to the hotel I found my way to the Torintone Suite where I was due to perform. The large room had been set up with a stage at one end and tables and chairs very carefully placed to abide by the strict regulations. Members of staff, all masked, bustled about making final preparations. I introduced myself and received muffled greetings and welcomes in reply, before starting to arrange my furniture on the stage.

Every venue has its own particular challenges and I immediately realised what those would be here: over the stage hung two beautifully designed chandeliers, modern in design, made up of hundreds of glass droplets which dangled from little hooks…unfortunately with the raised stage they dangled to a lower height than 5’10 plus top hat – I was going to have to very carefully navigate my way around.

Soon Lynne arrived and we made the final preparations, the most complicated of which was to arrange my opening music and sound effect to play at the correct moment, for the CD unit was in a completely different room (actually a tiny stock cupboard behind the bar area), meaning that we had to set up a chain of people to allow Zak, one of the staff members, to hit the button bang on cue.

Soon the time for the audience to arrive was approaching so I made some final checks to the stage, before waiting for the start time of 2.30. Although the hotel had not staged any events like this for months they had worked out a system of taking bar orders and serving drinks which they carried out like clockwork. Soon everyone who wanted one had a drink and we were ready to start. Lynne got on the stage and welcomed everyone, who were revelling in a tiny moment of normality in turbulent times, and the show began.

I performed in two acts, and successfully managed to not destroy the chandeliers, the audience responded enthusiastically throughout. After I had finished I chatted to a few audience members (all masked up, of course and from a distance), and learned that many people had seen me perform in Liverpool before and had made the journey across the Mersey to catch up with me this year.

Between shows I went to my room and as soon as I switched on the TV I discovered that the Prime Minister was announcing even tighter restrictions on the country, and the jolly plans that had been put in place to temporarily allow a few household bubbles to meet over the Christmas season were henceforth rescinded. Inevitably Mr Johnson would now be slammed in the press as the PM who cancelled Christmas. It was all too depressing to watch, so I flicked the channel and was instantly rewarded with Alastair Sim skipping around his room in sheer undulated joy: once again A Christmas Carol had come to the rescue.

The evening show was at 7.30 so I had plenty of time to rest before the second audience, slightly larger than the first, took their seats, ordered their drinks and prepared themselves for a dose of escapism to treat the depressing malaise that has spread across the country.

Again the show was a success, and again I was able to chat and pose with some of the fans who had tracked me down!

When I returned to my room the day’s duties were not quite done for I had a Q&A call from America, which was arranged to celebrate the 177th anniversary of ‘The Ghostly Little Book.’ The video session had been arranged by Sandy Belknap, my good friend from Nashua, who has been doing a lot of marketing work to promote the film during the last few weeks. I was to be interviewed by Pam Byers, who would usually be organising and managing my American tour. The whole technical aspect was overseen by Scott, a colleague and friend of Sandy’s. We virtually forgathered in our virtual studio and ran through the running order that Sandy had drawn up and then with a couple of minutes to go Pam and I were left to our own devices, but with Sandy and Scott feeding chat messages to us, guiding the session.

Pam welcomed me and invited me to chat about the gestation and publication of A Christmas Carol, before opening the ‘floor’ to questions, which started to pour in. I was asked if I had a favourite copy of A Christmas Carol and I talked about the ‘reading’ version upon which I based my first show. The volume in question was first published in 1969 with a white cover (and that is the one that was read to me by an uncle – my first experience of the story), then re-published with a red cover (I am not sure when that was), and finally with a green cover which is the copy I have marked up with some of my own performance suggestions from 1993.

Another question was about Dickens development of characters and did he base any on real people, also the names, where did they come from? Of course Charles Dickens was an observer above all things, so his greatest characters were an amalgam of many character traits that he had noticed around him. As for the names, they were very important to him, having to capture the essence of the character in an instant.

I was delighted to notice a couple of questions pop up from ‘Martin at Orgin8 Photography’ Martin is a good friend who took the fantastic still photos for the film’s promotion. Martin’s questions focussed on the making of the film and the challenges I faced in creating it, which was a lovely avenue to go down, and useful in that the point of the session was to stimulate plenty of rentals. I assure you Martin was not a plant and his presence online was a complete, yet very happy, surprise’

Our thirty minutes ran its course, with Pam and I keeping up a dialogue, whilst watching for Sandy and Scott’s comments to guide us. It was a fun session and the whole thing can still be watched online and I will post the link at the end of this article.

I was still buzzing with adrenaline when we finally signed off, and it took quite a while to get to sleep. It had been a fun day and I think we honoured the anniversary of A Christmas Carol in a suitably celebratory fashion.

On the next day I left the hotel after a large breakfast and headed home to be with the family for a few brief hours before setting off to perform my final show of 2020. Once again this was a new venue to me and an unusual one at that! I had been booked by a friend of many years (I was going to say an old friend, but that is ungallant), who works as an event promoter. I had first met Paula when she worked at a theatre in the Oxfordshire riverside town of Henley and had booked me to perform Mr Dickens is Coming and The Signalman. We have kept in touch ever since and this year she contacted me to ask if I would perform A Christmas Carol as a dinner theatre show for her client: The Spice Merchant Indian restaurant. Dickens and an Indian restaurant do not seem to be a natural fit, but there was plenty of enthusiasm for the project and I was very happy to sign off my year in this way.

The drive to Henley from Abingdon is a short one, so I travelled in costume, admiring the beautiful Christmas lights which are adorning Britain more extravagantly this year than ever before. The room I would be performing in was long and narrow with tables on either side, so allowing for distancing I only had a single track to move up and down along.

The guests arrived and ordered their meals, before I performed chapters 1 and 2. As I performed so the waiters were carrying plates of food and drink, meaning that I had to be careful not to send a plate of Lamb Pasanda and Pilau flying with some theatrical and flamboyant gesture. I was however able to include some the waiters in the performance, one unwittingly becoming Dick Wilkins, Scrooge’s fellow clerk in Mr Fezziwig’s warehouse.

After a brief interval I returned to fisnish the story, taking care not to roam too far up the room this time as one table has an elderly and therefore vulnerable lady in their party and had asked Paula if I could not come quite so close to them during my show, a request which of course I honoured.

The show was another great success and after I had finished we spent a little time chatting in an informal Q&A until I packed up my things, said goodbye to Paula and drove away from my 2020 tour, which has involved 5 performances!

To view the online Q&A with Pam Byers visit my Facebook page: Dickens Shows

To watch my film of A Christmas Carol go to my website: http://www.geralddickens.com