''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'' is an 8½ hour-long adaptation of
Charles Dickens’ 1839 novel, performed in two parts. Part 1 was 4 hours in length with one interval of 15 minutes. Part 2 was 4½ hours in length with two intervals of 12 minutes. It was originally presented onstage over two evenings, or in its entirety from early afternoon with a dinner break. Later it was presented on television over four evenings.
The opening night was on 5 June 1980. The show ran for an 8-week season at the
Aldwych Theatre
The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Aldwych in the City of Westminster, central London. It was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200 on three levels.
History
Origins
The theatre was constructed in th ...
, playing Part 1 on some nights and Part 2 on others with both parts playing together on matinée and evening performances. It was revived for two further 8-week runs at the Aldwych in the autumn season of 1980 and the spring season of 1981 before being
filmed for Primetime TV at the
Old Vic Theatre
The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...
and transferring to Broadway for the autumn season of 1981. A further revival with a substantially different cast played at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford and toured to Los Angeles and Broadway in 1985.
The play was adapted by
David Edgar from the
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
novel ''
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
''Nicholas Nickleby'' or ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'' (or also ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Containing a Faithful Account of the Fortunes, Misfortunes, Uprisings, Downfallings, and Complete Career of the ...
''. Directed by
John Caird and
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn (born 14 January 1940) is a British theatre director. He has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed dramas f ...
, the music and lyrics were from
Stephen Oliver and the set design was by
John Napier
John Napier of Merchiston (; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8th Laird of Merchiston. His Latinized name was Ioann ...
and Dermot Hayes.
It transferred to the
Plymouth Theatre Plymouth Theatre or Plymouth Theater may refer to:
* Plymouth Theatre (Boston)
* Plymouth Theatre (Worcester)
* Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, New York City, formerly the Plymouth Theatre
* H Street Playhouse
The H Street Playhouse was a black box ...
on Broadway, initially opening 4 October 1981 and running until 3 January 1982.
Revivals of the original production were produced in 1986 (which returned to USA for a Broadway run and national tour) and a truncated version from 2006 to 2008.
Productions
The original London cast included
Roger Rees
Roger Rees (5 May 1944 – 10 July 2015) was a Welsh actor and director, widely known for his stage work. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby''. He also re ...
as Nicholas,
David Threlfall
David John Threlfall (born 12 October 1953) is an English stage, film and television actor and director. He is best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Channel 4's series '' Shameless''. He has also directed several episodes of the show. In A ...
as Smike,
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...
as Squeers,
Bob Peck
Robert Peck (23 August 1945 – 4 April 1999) was an English actor who played Ronald Craven in the television serial ''Edge of Darkness'', for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He was also known for his role as game warden Rob ...
as John Browdie and Sir Mulberry Hawk,
John Woodvine
John Woodvine (born 21 July 1929) is an English actor who has appeared in more than 70 theatre productions, as well as a similar number of television and film roles.
Early life
Woodvine was born in Tyne Dock, South Shields, Tyne & Wear, Englan ...
as Ralph Nickleby,
Susan Littler
Susan Littler (31 December 1947 – 11 July 1982) was an English actress who appeared in many television and stage productions in the 1970s and early 1980s, before her death from cancer. A versatile and respected actress, Littler is perhaps ...
as Kate,
Edward Petherbridge
Edward Petherbridge (born 3 August 1936) is an English actor, writer and artist. Among his many roles, he portrayed Lord Peter Wimsey in the 1987 BBC television adaptations of Dorothy L. Sayers' novels, and Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's ''R ...
as Newman Noggs,
Timothy Spall
Timothy Leonard Spall (born 27 February 1957) is an English actor and presenter. He became a household name in the UK after appearing as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series '' Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''.
Spall performed in '' ...
as Young Wackford and Mr. Folair,
John McEnery
John McEnery (1 November 1943 – 12 April 2019) was an English actor and writer.
Born in Birmingham, he trained (1962–1964) at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, playing, among others, Mosca in Ben Jonson's ''Volpone'' and Gaveston ...
as Mr. Mantalini, William the Waiter and Mr. Snevellicci,
Graham Crowden
Clement Graham Crowden (30 November 1922 – 19 October 2010) was a Scottish actor. He was best known for his many appearances in television comedy dramas and films, often playing eccentric "offbeat" scientist, teacher and doctor characters.
Ea ...
as Mr. Vincent Crummles, and
Suzanne Bertish
Suzanne Bertish (born 7 August 1951, Hammersmith, London) is an English actress.
Educated at Woldingham School, Bertish joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared in many of its productions, including its marathon eight-and-a-half-ho ...
as Fanny Squeers, Peg Sliderskew and Miss Snevellicci, among many others.
All actors apart from Rees played multiple roles. Some parts were recast in November 1980, with
Fulton Mackay
William Fulton Beith Mackay (12 August 1922 – 6 June 1987) was a Scottish actor and playwright, best known for his role as prison officer Mr. Mackay in the 1970s television sitcom '' Porridge''.
Early life
Mackay was born in Paisley, Re ...
playing Squeers,
Emily Richard
Emily Richard (born 25 January 1948) is a British actress and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
One of three sisters, Richard was born in London, where she attended drama school in 1966, aged 18, but she was asked to leave afte ...
taking the role of Kate Nickleby and
Christopher Benjamin as Crummles. Fulton Mackay and Timothy Spall had left the company by the time the production was filmed and were replaced by
Alun Armstrong
Alan Armstrong, known professionally as Alun Armstrong, is an English actor. He grew up in County Durham in North East England, and first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began ...
and
Ian McNeice
Ian McNeice (born 2 October 1950) is an English film and television actor. He found fame portraying government agent Harcourt in the 1985 television series '' Edge of Darkness'', and went on to feature in popular films such as ''The Englishma ...
respectively.
[ When the Aldwych production closed in the summer of 1981 the set was moved to the ]Old Vic Theatre
The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...
and the work performed for a four-part mini-series by Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
and Mobil Showcase Theatre
The Mobil Showcase Network, also known as Mobil Showcase or Mobil Showcase Theatre, was an occasional or ad hoc television network from 1976 to 1984 with an ad hoc group of stations.
Background
A Mobil Oil media expert, Herb Schmertz, wrote canne ...
., which was telecast in the US in January 1983.
The full-length version of the play was produced by three American companies subsequent to the RSC. The Great Lakes Theatre Festival, formerly Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in 1982 with a revival in 1983, directed by Edward Stern
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...
and Robert Lanchester, and Kansas City Repertory Theater, formerly Missouri Repertory Theater, directed by James Assad and Leon Rubin in 1983. The third production was in February and March 1984 by the students at Herbert Henry Dow High School, Midland, Michigan, directed by J. Michael Reilly.
An Australian production played at the Theatre Royal in Sydney from December 1983 to March 1984, and later in Melbourne and Adelaide from December 1984 to March 1985. It featured John Howard
John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...
as Nicholas and Tony Taylor as Smike.
The production was revived for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespe ...
, Stratford-upon-Avon, in January 1986. A second Broadway production ran from 24 August 1986 to 12 October 1986 at the Broadhurst Theatre
The Broadhurst Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1917, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was built for the Shubert brothers. The Bro ...
and was nominated for the 1987 Tony Award for Best Revival. A production by the Hilberry Theatre
The Hilberry Theatre was a 534-seat auditorium located at 4743 Cass Avenue in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. Created in 1963, the Hilberry served as the theatre space for approximately 40-50 graduate students pursuing degrees in theatre fields at the ...
was named best play of the 1987-88 season in the Detroit Free Press
The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...
theater awards.
Despite the play's success, its length and the size of the cast required means that it is seldom revived, although in 2006 Edgar prepared a shorter version for a production at the Chichester Festival
Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, it was opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin ...
, which transferred in December 2007 and January 2008 to the Gielgud Theatre
The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, at the corner of Rupert Street, in the City of Westminster, London. The house currently has 986 seats on three levels.
The theatre was designed by W. G. R. Sprague and ...
in the West End. The production, directed by Philip Franks
Philip Franks (born 2 February 1956) is an English actor and director, known to the public chiefly for his roles in English television series, such as '' The Darling Buds of May'' and '' Heartbeat''.
Early life
Franks was born on 2 February 19 ...
and Jonathan Church
Jonathan Church, CBE (born 1967), is a British stage director.
Church was the artistic director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre (2001–2005) and Chichester Festival Theatre (2006–2016).
In August 2015, Sydney Theatre Company announced ...
went on to perform at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Canada. This version has been produced in the US by the California Shakespeare Festival, Playmakers Repertory Theater and a production was performed at The Lyric Stage Company of Boston in October – December 2010.
Critical reception
Although audience reception was enthusiastic, critical reception was mixed. Frank Rich
Frank Hart Rich Jr. (born 1949) is an American essayist and liberal op-ed columnist, who held various positions within ''The New York Times'' from 1980 to 2011. He has also produced television series and documentaries for HBO.
Rich is curren ...
in ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reported dull passages piling up as "dead weight", while John Simon in the ''New York Magazine
''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...
'' felt that the work was a "middlebrow enterprise" doing "scant justice" to the novel. In contrast Mel Gussow
Melvyn Hayes "Mel" Gussow (; December 19, 1933 – April 29, 2005) was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for ''The New York Times'' for 35 years.
Biography
Gussow was born in New York City and grew up in Rockville ...
, again in ''The New York Times'', noted that "''Nicholas Nickleby'' remains true to Dickens – many of the lines are taken directly from the novel, dialogue as well as narration – and to first principles of theater" when describing the RSC's recast production in 1986. Playwright and reviewer Thomas Hischak, writing in retrospect about the 1981–82 New York season, judged the production as the "centerpiece of the season...a theatrical experience of a lifetime" and in London Bernard Levin
Henry Bernard Levin (19 August 1928 – 7 August 2004) was an English journalist, author and broadcaster, described by ''The Times'' as "the most famous journalist of his day". The son of a poor Jewish family in London, he won a scholarship t ...
of ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' found "a ceaselessly entertaining...dramatic triumph" and despaired of the cavils of his fellow critics. He concluded: "…we come out not merely delighted but strengthened, not just entertained but uplifted, not only affected but changed."
Theme
Edgar's writing for the stage is avowedly political and his treatment of Dickens's novel, with its descriptions of poverty and as its central subject matter the wickedness of money-broker Ralph Nickleby, sought to draw parallels between the social conditions of 1830s Britain with what he saw as the growing political climate of selfishness in the 1980s. However, some critics felt that the RSC's ebullient staging, the necessary happy ending (brought about by benevolent capitalism as represented by the Cheeryble brothers) and even the huge commercial success of the play itself diminished the impact of Edgar's message.
Awards and nominations
;Awards
* 1980 Laurence Olivier Awards: Play of the year; Director of the year; Designer of the year; Actor of the year in a new play: Roger Rees; Actor of the Year in a Supporting Role: David Threlfall; Actress of the Year in a Supporting Role: Suzanne Bertish.
* 1982 Tony Awards: Best Play; Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play: Roger Rees
* 1982 New York Drama Critics' Circle
The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 22 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization is best known for its annual awards for excellence in theater.Jone ...
Award for Best Play
;Nominations
* 1987 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play
Home video
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
filmed the play as it was performed in a theatre, The Old Vic, shortly before the RSC took the show to Broadway. Two extra versions of "the story so far" (which originally recapped part one for theatregoers returning for part two) were written, staged, and filmed, to introduce the second and fourth acts for television.
The Company (in alphabetical order):
* Alun Armstrong as Mr. Squeers and Mr. Wagstaff
* Christopher Benjamin as Mr. Vincent Crummies and Walter Bray
* Suzanne Bertish
Suzanne Bertish (born 7 August 1951, Hammersmith, London) is an English actress.
Educated at Woldingham School, Bertish joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared in many of its productions, including its marathon eight-and-a-half-ho ...
as Milliner, Fanny Squeers, Miss Snevellicci and Peg Sliderskew
* Sharon Bower as Waitress, Rich lady, Milliner, Pitcher, Mr. Kenwigs' sister, Miss Bravassa, and Opera singer
* Janet Dale as Snawney Major, Miss Knag, Mrs. Cutler, Miss Belvawney, Mrs. Wititterley, and Mrs. Snawley
* Jeffery Dench
Jeffery Danny Dench (29 April 1928 – 27 March 2014) was an English actor, best known for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was the older brother of actress Judi Dench.
Personal life
Jeffery Dench was born in Tyldesley, Lancash ...
as Mr. Cutler, Landlord, Mr. Blightley, and Arthur Gride
* Jane Downs
Jane Margaret Downs (22 January 1935 – 20 May 2015) was an English actress.
Downs was born in Bromley, Kent, England. She started her career in the theatre, and later appeared on radio and in film, playing Kenneth More's wife in '' A Nigh ...
as Mrs. Nickleby and Miss Green
* Ian East as Milliner, Roberts, and Mr. Crowl
* Nicholas Gecks
Nicholas Gecks is a British actor who appeared in Series Four of ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' as his modernising colleague Charles Hearthstoke.
Early life
Gecks was born in Penang, Malaysia in 1952.
Career
Gecks starred as Father Mike in the 1983 ...
as Jackson and Lord Frederick Verisopht
* Alan Gill as Graymarsh, George, Keeper and Westwood
* Patrick Godfrey
Patrick Lindesay Archibald Godfrey (born 13 February 1933) is an English actor of film, television and stage.
Life and career
Godfrey was born in Finsbury, London to Rev. Frederick Godfrey and Lois Mary Gladys ( née Turner).
In 1956 Godfr ...
as Irate gentleman, Jennings, Mr. Kenwigs, The man next door and Casino proprietor
* Lucy Gutteridge
Lucy Kérimée Gutteridge (born 28 November 1956) is an English retired actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt in the television miniseries '' Little Gloria... Happy at Last'' (1982), for which she received a Go ...
as Milliner, Sprouter, Young Fiancee, Miss Ledrock and Madeline Bray
* Cathryn Harrison as Milliner, Tilda Price and Miss Henrietta Petowker
* Andrew Hawkins as Mr. Bonney, Coates, Mr. Hetherington, Opera singer, Captain Adams and Policeman
* Rose Hill as Miss La Creevy, Lady from downstairs and Mrs. Grudden
* Roderick Horn as Pugstyles, Mr. Wititterley and Umpire
* Griffith Jones as Flunkey, Old Lord, Mr. Fluggers and Tim Linkinwater
* Lila Kaye
Lila Kaye (7 November 1929 – 10 January 2012) was an English actress. She spent a number of years working in the United States, on Broadway and in television, before returning to England.
Born in Middlesbrough, North Riding of Yorkshire, sh ...
as Mrs. Squeers and Mrs. Crummies
* Teddy Kempner as Peters, Benjamin, Master Peter Crummies, Tix and Mr. Pluck
* Timothy Kightley as Flunkey, Mr. Lillyvick, Colonel Chowser and Surgeon
* Shirley King as Rich lady, Mrs. Kenwigs and Mrs. Lenville
* John McEnery
John McEnery (1 November 1943 – 12 April 2019) was an English actor and writer.
Born in Birmingham, he trained (1962–1964) at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, playing, among others, Mosca in Ben Jonson's ''Volpone'' and Gaveston ...
as William, Mr. Mantalini, Cobbey and Mr. Snevellicci
* Ian McNeice
Ian McNeice (born 2 October 1950) is an English film and television actor. He found fame portraying government agent Harcourt in the 1985 television series '' Edge of Darkness'', and went on to feature in popular films such as ''The Englishma ...
as Young Wackford Squeers, Scaley and Croupier
* William Maxwell as Mr. Snawley, Milliner, Tomkins and Mr. Pailey
* David Lloyd Meredith
David Lloyd Meredith (30 October 1933 – 22 October 2008) was an English actor. He came from a Welsh family background, but was born in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England ...
as Sir Matthew Pupker and Charles Cheeryble
* Sally Nesbitt as Waitress, Milliner, Phib and Ganzingi
* Bob Peck
Robert Peck (23 August 1945 – 4 April 1999) was an English actor who played Ronald Craven in the television serial ''Edge of Darkness'', for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He was also known for his role as game warden Rob ...
as John Browdie and Sir Mulberry Hawk
* Edward Petherbridge
Edward Petherbridge (born 3 August 1936) is an English actor, writer and artist. Among his many roles, he portrayed Lord Peter Wimsey in the 1987 BBC television adaptations of Dorothy L. Sayers' novels, and Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's ''R ...
as Newman Noggs and Hawk's rival
* Clyde Pollitt as Coachman, Mr. Folair and Brooker
* Stephen Rashbrook as Belling, Milliner, Mr. Bane and Alphonse
* Christopher Ravenscroft
Christopher Ravenscroft (born 1946) is an English actor, best known for his recurring role as DI Mike Burden in ''The Ruth Rendell Mysteries'', the ITV adaptation of Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford mysteries.
Biography
Ravenscroft was born in ...
as Mobbs, Mr. Lenville, Mr. Snobb and Frank Cheeryble
* Hubert Rees
Hubert Rees (27 April 1928 – 20 October 2009) was a Welsh character actor, known for his supporting roles in British television shows throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Early life
Rees was born on 27 April 1928 in Abergavenny, Wales.
Career
R ...
as Mr. Curdle and Ned Cheeryble
* Roger Rees
Roger Rees (5 May 1944 – 10 July 2015) was a Welsh actor and director, widely known for his stage work. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby''. He also re ...
as Nicholas Nickleby
* Emily Richard
Emily Richard (born 25 January 1948) is a British actress and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
One of three sisters, Richard was born in London, where she attended drama school in 1966, aged 18, but she was asked to leave afte ...
as Kate Nickleby and Mrs. Curdle
* Mark Tandy as Bolder, Master Crummies, Mr. Pyke and Policeman
* David Threlfall
David John Threlfall (born 12 October 1953) is an English stage, film and television actor and director. He is best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Channel 4's series '' Shameless''. He has also directed several episodes of the show. In A ...
as Smike
* Hilary Townley as Hannah, Snawley minor, Milliner, Morleena Kenwigs, The infant phenomenon and Young woman
* Thelma Whiteley as Mrs. Snevellicci, Nurse and Madame Mantalini
* John Woodvine
John Woodvine (born 21 July 1929) is an English actor who has appeared in more than 70 theatre productions, as well as a similar number of television and film roles.
Early life
Woodvine was born in Tyne Dock, South Shields, Tyne & Wear, Englan ...
as Ralph Nickleby and Opera singer
In popular culture
In the final episode of Season 3 of the U.S. drama television series The West Wing
''The West Wing'' is an American serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White Hous ...
, the cast of a production of John Barton's The Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...
performs a rendition of "Patriotic Song" from The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. The song is performed almost in its entirety, under the final scene of the episode. Earlier in the same episode, the fictional President Bartlet quotes the chorus of "victorious in war shall be made glorious in peace" as he mulls the decision to commit a political assassination.
References
Further reading
The original London production is documented in Freeman, John, ''The Greatest Shows on Earth: World Theatre from Peter Brook to the Sydney Olympics''. Libri: Oxford .
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, The
1980 plays
Broadway plays
Laurence Olivier Award-winning plays
Plays based on novels
Tony Award-winning plays
West End plays
Plays based on works by Charles Dickens
Plays by David Edgar
Nicholas Nickleby