Generous Fire; Charles Dickens in America

Charles Dickens is generally considered the greatest English novelist of the Victorian era. Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and the semi autobiographical David Copperfield are among his legacy. Dickens’s works are characterized by pathos, a vein of the macabre and a pervasive spirit of benevolence. Charles Dickens did not only write books about social injustices. He was instrumental in facilitating the development of homeless shelters for women, the first pediatric hospital in the United Kingdom, and the development of orthopedics. And yet, there was another Charles Dickens ...

His Homelife was in shambles. A long-running affair with an actress half his age, his separation from his wife Catherine and the poor reception of his book American Notes left him desperate for the affection of his readers.

Returning to his lucrative exercise of public readings, he sought not only to line his pockets, but to gain the adulation he craved.

This performance is a fictionalized presentation of one of these readings. However the circumstancese are true. Mr. Dickens has already survived one stroke, but even he must admit that the end of his life is imminent. The strain of his second American tour has proven too much for him, and his doctor has become his sole traveling companion. The public mask slips, and we catch a glimpse of things "Boz" would never willingly present to his public.

Brian McCann began his love of All Things Dickens at the age of 10 . Not only reading the novels but being cast in The perennial favorite A Christmas Carol. He has gone on to play in 32 different productions of this Christmas classic. He has played the lawyer Jaggers from Great Expectations at the Arden Theater Company to great acclaim. He has twice played Charles Dickens for the Lantern Theater Company and their two productions of The Gospel According to Tolstoy Jefferson and Dickens. Mr McCann has also presented Charles Dickens for numerous tours and speaking engagements in and around Philadelphia.

While this presentation is a flight of the imagination, nearly all of the words spoken come from Charles Dickens himself.

The presentation has a 45 minute running time with no intermission

Through its lively debate, this fine casting bring this initially stiff figure to life and makes him face himself.
- Broadstreet Review

It would be hard to come up with better casting. Brian McCann doesn’t shy away from becoming the showman Dickens.
- Phindi

McCann's Dickens has the feel of a vaudevillian, suggesting the novelist's performative nature.
- Talking Broadway

Brian McCann is a gleefully pompous Dickens.
- DC Theater Arts

The hilarious Brian McCann. Great dickensian moment. Dramatic show.
- Philadelphia Inquirer