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Thu 19 Apr, 2007 08:41 pm
April 18, 2007, 11:54PM
Dickens World is theme park with a twist
Backers say you can have fun and learn about a literary great, too
By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press
RESOURCES
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Visitors will be able to:
Take a walk: Stroll through a central square of cobbled streets and crooked buildings, and mingle with pickpockets and wenches.
Get a scare: See the Ghost of Christmas Past in Ebenezer Scrooge's haunted house.
Go to school: Be hectored by a schoolmaster at Dotheboys Hall ?- the dismal school from Nicholas Nickleby .
Have a meal: Dine in the cafeteria, which has resisted the temptation to offer "Please, sir can I have some more?" 2-for-1 specials.
CHATHAM, ENGLAND ?- In Dickens World, rat catchers hunt vermin on London's cobbled streets and pickpockets roam the alleys.
A new theme park inspired by the work of Charles Dickens aims to transform a 70,000-square-foot warehouse near London into a teeming ?- and family-friendly ?- corner of Victorian England.
Literary purists may balk, but the attraction's backers are confident.
"Would Dickens approve? Yes," said Thelma Grove of the Dickens Fellowship, a global association of the writer's fans. "He loved to see people enjoy themselves, and he had a very sharp eye for the latest fad."
In more than a dozen novels, including The Pickwick Papers and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dickens created a rich tapestry of 19th century England, peopled by struggling workers, aspiring clerks, jaded lawyers, ambitious orphans, rogues, runaways and thieves. The books have inspired numerous film and TV adaptations and a popular musical, Oliver!
Dickens World's backers say they are trying to capture that vibrant landscape in their $125 million theme park. They insist it is "based on a credible and factual account of Charles Dickens' works and the world in which he lived."
"You can't Disney-fy Dickens," said managing director Kevin Christie, "because he was better and he was first."
There may be a whiff of kitsch in the air at Dickens World, but its supporters include some serious Dickens buffs. "It's like a dream come true," said Grove, who acted as an adviser on the project.
Dickens World's planned opening this week was postponed until May 25.
What's next? Poe's World in an abandoned warehouse in Baltimore, featuring black cats slinking about and a pulsating heart under the floorboards? Amontillado on tap in the cafeteria?
Well, at least I don't have interest in that.
(What if you place a genuine Disney water-slide to mimick the gorgeous effect of the descent into a Mickey-mouthed maelstrom?)
Ah, tatersauce! I was planning on going their on opening night.
Remember, Dickens was a showman--and a showman who was perpetually short of the brass.
I, for one, am relieved that no man will have to say, "no, I'd rather not go to Chuck Dicks."
Ohhh....I'll bet the "Miss Havisham's Wedding Planner Booth" will be a big hit.
I wonder if they have a corner for A Tale of Two Cities, since it happens largely in Paris.
Quote:I wonder if they have a corner for A Tale of Two Cities, since it happens largely in Paris.
...with a little shop for knitting supplies?
Bill Sykes with his dog up on the roof would be real colo(u)rful
Bill Sykes bungie jumping.
I hope they don't get too realistic or you'd have to watch your wallet -- and anything else in your pocket -- with the Artful Dodger around.
Pickpocket classes for the kiddies?
Noddy24 wrote:Pickpocket classes for the kiddies?
Great idea, Noddy. The Bill Sykes character could run it.
I'm with Edgar. Bill Sykes is busy on the bungee jump.
Okay, okay. Fagin gets the job by default. (See? I'm easy to get along with.
)
I fear I might need to be restrained from attacking Mr Bumble.
The Tulkinghorn exhibit might rival wallpaper fading.
Jarndyce and Jarndyce Booth: We give you the forms. You write the will.
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