What the Dickens is going on in Welwyn Garden City?

By Alan Davies Sunday, March 10, 2013
10:04 AM

A CHARLES Dickens story with a difference can be seen on stage in Welwyn Garden City later this month.

THESE days it seems there is very little that can be truly called family entertainment – something that tickles the adults as much as it keeps the children engaged.

Pixar films manage it, but few live shows do.

Step forward then, Charles Dickens! Well, sort of.

In What The Dickens? at the Hawthorne Theatre, in Welwyn Garden City, on Saturday, March 23, it’s the role of Charles Dickens – cub reporter for The Morning Chronicle – to solve a mystery involving journalistic riddles, mistaken identities and madcap chases through the London city fog.

Filled with Python-esque humour, and a mix of improvisation, clowning and physical theatre, the plot (which involves corruption in the Law Courts) is almost incidental to the chaotic world conjured up by the actors of Gonzo Moose.

Transporting the audience back to a dingy Victorian London, where vagabonds, pickpockets and convicts litter the mucky streets and everyone is seeking their fortune, the three actors play more than 20 roles between them with vitality, humour and panache.

With characters such as the two undertakers who compete for trade by offering discounts, loyalty cards and two-for-one offers, or the bodysnatchers Ratchet and Screw, this is a show filled with wit and ingenuity.

And with slapstick for the kids, knowing pastiche for the adults, and eccentricity that will appeal to all, it’s definitely one for the whole family.

Pegasus presents Gonzo Moose in What The Dickens? at the Hawthorne Theatre on Saturday, March 23. The performance starts at 7.30pm.

Tickets cost £12, and £10 concessions.