A PERFECT LIKENESS Carroll Photographs Dickens a Play © 2013 Daniel Singer
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A PERFECT LIKENESS Carroll Photographs Dickens A play © 2013 Daniel Singer Reclusive photographer Lewis Carroll invites celebrity novelist Charles Dickens to sit for a portrait -- tumbling two very different Victorians into an unexpectedly funny and revealing baring of souls. Hilarious historical fiction from one of the co-creators of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).” NOTICE! Your use of this script acknowledges that you agree, under penalty of prosecution, that it shall remain confidential and proprietary, and shall not be shared, duplicated or distributed in any manner. This play shall not be performed, filmed, interpreted, translated, published or used in any manner without the written permission of the author, and in most cases, payment of a royalty. Licensing (North America): www.playscripts.com. Licensing (International): www.Josef-Weinberger.com. Representation: [email protected]. Playwright [email protected]. “A Perfect Likeness” © 2013 Daniel Singer 2 “A PERFECT LIKENESS” was first performed on April 18, 2013 by Paper Lantern Theatre in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with the following cast: Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson)… Ben Baker Charles Dickens… Michael Kamtman This fictitious encounter between authors Charles Dickens and Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) takes place at Dodgson’s residence at Christ Church, Oxford in 1866. It is performed without intermission and runs approximately 90 minutes. There is an optional second act, wherein the audience has an opportunity to hear both men perform short readings from their works. There is mature content but teachers, parents, and 12-year-olds have given their approval. The script mentions opportunities for Lighting, Sound, and Projections. In the original production, images were projected onto a surface above the set, illustrating the show with John Tenniel’s drawings, Carroll’s photographs, and other images that visually enhanced the show’s many poems, reveries, descriptions, documents and historical references. However, none of this technical wizardry is essential to the presentation. The play has been crafted to be performed without technical support; it does just as well in a classroom as it does on a proper stage. PLAYWRIGHT’S FORWARD by Daniel Rover Singer My mountain of books by and about Lewis Carroll lives alongside my mountain of books by and about Charles Dickens. I’ve always been a passionate fan of both. In 2011, while re-reading a biography of Carroll (whom I knew was a big Dickens fan) I stumbled across a comment I’d never noticed before: Macmillan (the publisher) noted that Carroll had requested Charles Dickens’ address. There’s no evidence that they corresponded or met, and they probably didn’t, but they could have. I knew enough about both these gentlemen to imagine their endless conversations in my head, and my lifetime of theatrical experience informed their imagined meeting with myriad jokes and twists and drama. The two characters took shape like a Victorian “Odd Couple”… the worldly, gregarious, burned-out bon-vivant Dickens versus the fussy, quirky, uptight young Dodgson, struggling to photograph his literary idol while cringing at Dickens’ frank parlance. But I promised myself I’d write this play ONLY if it were fun and touching and important and human, even to people who had never heard of Lewis Carroll or Charles Dickens or their works. For picky historians, here are four footnotes: 1. Dodgson never took photographs in his rooms. In the 1860’s he leased an “outbuilding” in Oxford and fitted it for use as a studio and darkroom. In this play, the two spaces have been combined for the sake of dramatic convenience. 2. Dodgson continued to use his old, large, rosewood camera in the 1860s rather than a newer, smaller “box” camera. 3. Many of the writing projects Dodgson mentions had not been thought of as early as 1866. “A Perfect Likeness” © 2013 Daniel Singer 3 4. The term for a resident of Christ Church was “Student.” I have changed the term to “Fellow” to avoid confusion. I’ve always thought the world needed a better understanding of these two guys – especially Lewis Carroll, who, it turns out, was neither creepy nor boring, but a playful, boyish, sentimental artist couched in a polite, religious, fastidious outer shell. Dickens, who went from superhero novelist and family man to egotist and philanderer, turns out to have been a passionate showman with post traumatic stress disorder and a few embarrassing failings. I wish studying History and English had been this fun when I was a lad. My eternal gratitude to Charlie Lovett, whose initiative enabled the show to come to life; to Amy Daluz, Ben Baker, Michael Kamtman, John Gulley and Paper Lantern Theater, whose spectacular world premiere set such a high standard; to Jason Jenn for his early reading as Carroll that helped shape the character; to the Lewis Carroll Societies for their approval and support; to Kimi Walker and Actors Co-op; to Kernan Coleman for his artistry; to Z’eva, for her unwavering, lifelong belief in me; to early readers who gave comments and encouragement; to everyone out there who ever produces, promotes, and/or appreciates “A Perfect Likeness;” and to Cal and Arrmen, for midwifing its birth. – Daniel Rover Singer CHARACTERS CHARLES DICKENS, 54, has longish, wavy salt-and-pepper hair, a receding hairline and a long, bristling goatee beard. Although from humble origins – of a poor family and largely self-educated – Dickens is profoundly intelligent and wise, with a grand sense of theatricality that permeates his career and lifestyle. He is a loud, confident and enthusiastic extrovert; a ham with a huge ego. Loves parties, eating, drinking, smoking, laughing, singing, sex, travel, and being the center of attention. He lives life to the fullest and enjoys being famous. Having discovered how fun it is to do public readings of extracts from his novels, he’s crafted an ideal new career for himself – but at a great personal sacrifice. During long tours – entertaining massive crowds with his booming voice and melodramatic sentimentality – he exhausts himself and ruins his health. Recently, Dickens has left his wife and taken a young actress as a lover – no doubt experiencing a midlife crisis. And now he’s suffering post-traumatic stress disorder as the result of surviving a horrific train crash. He’s a huge personality past his prime, seeming much older than his 54 years. CHARLES DODGSON, 34, is a mild-mannered, soft-spoken, upright, clean-shaven fellow with dark, shaggy hair parted on one side and combed down with oil. Raised in rural northern England by well-mannered, middle-class, religious parents, Dodgson is well- educated and trained in the formal, ultra-polite manners of the Victorian era. Smart enough to be offered a Studentship (herein called “Fellowship”) and Mathematical Lectureship upon graduating college, he settles down to a simple scholastic life at an esteemed old Oxford university. He loves to write funny and sentimental poetry, with varying degrees of success, but with a real flair for nonsense; he’s passionate about “A Perfect Likeness” © 2013 Daniel Singer 4 making photographs (an extraordinarily difficult process); and he’s passionate about his friendships with children, whom he loves to entertain with games, toys, picnics, and stories. His interest in children (both aesthetically and as friends) appears to be entirely innocent; in fact Dodgson is such a sweet, uncle-type gentleman that he doesn’t seem to be interested in sex at all. He is very formal when it comes to good manners and propriety, and very prickly around coarse behavior. Despite being reserved and entirely shunning the public life of a celebrity when his fairy-tale book becomes a bestseller, Dodgson reveals an enthusiastic, childlike sense of fun when he lets down his guard. His movements are swift, deliberate and fussy. His speech is afflicted by a slight hesitation, an impediment shared by several of his siblings. A PERFECT LIKENESS PRESHOW: MUSIC and PROJECTED IMAGES of life in 1860’s England, preferably photographic. When HOUSE LIGHTS dim, the title of the show is projected. PROLOGUE (Following fifteen seconds or so of stately MUSIC, CHARLES DICKENS and CHARLES DODGSON appear in separate PIN-SPOTS. DICKENS, in a handsome dressing gown – something he woUld wear only at home – is clearly in a bad hUmor. He reads a letter he has jUst receiVed and clUtches a small brown-paper parcel. DODGSON, in his usual black sUit, stands at a lectern, dipping a pen into an inkwell and writing on a piece of notepaper identical to the one DICKENS is reading.) DODGSON (as he writes): Dear Mr. Dickens, I pray you will pardon this intrusion of your privacy. Alexander Macmillan, the publisher, gave me your address in the strictest confidence, as I am well known to him as an author myself… (paUses to dip the pen) DICKENS: Grrr…Damn that wretched Macmillan… DODGSON: …I was flattered six years ago when you published my poem ‘Faces in the Fire’ in your magazine ‘All the Year Round,’ though I hardly expect you to remember it. DICKENS: I most certainly do not. DODGON: …The purpose of my letter is to introduce myself to you as an accomplished photographer. I’m sure I could produce a tolerable if not perfect likeness of you, assuming the weather is cooperative… DICKENS: Infernal photographers! They can all go to the devil. “A Perfect Likeness” © 2013 Daniel Singer 5 DODGSON: …Come to my rooms at Christ Church, Oxford, in the afternoon, when I can make good use of the sunlight that comes through my drawing-room windows. DICKENS (overlapping): Blah blah blah, not interested, not interested, not interested. (Tosses the letter aside and Unwraps the parcel.) DODGSON: Yours in great earnest, Reverend C.