Celebrated children’s writer Hans Christian Andersen arrives, unannounced, for a stay at Gad’s Hill Place in the Kent marshes – home to Charles Dickens and his large, charismatic family.
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To the lonely and eccentric guest, the members of Dickens’s household seem to live a life of unreachable bliss. But with his broken English, Andersen doesn’t at first see the storms brewing within the family: undeclared passions, a son about to go to India, and a growing strangeness at the heart of Dickens’s marriage.
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Sebastian Barry has been twice nominated for the Booker prize, and his novel The Secret Scripture won the 2008 Costa Prize. His plays include the international hit The Steward of Christendom, Our Lady of Sligo, and Hinterland.
Max Stafford-Clark directs this haunting new play from Out of Joint, one of Britain’s leading new writing touring companies, rich in characters and touched with a wistful humour.
The cast includes Niamh Cusack as Catherine, Charles Dickens’ wife; David Rintoul as Charles Dickens, and Danny Sapani as Hans Christian Andersen.
Offstage events post-show discussion: Tuesday 2 March with director Max Stafford-Clark