About

The true story of the marriage of Charles and Catherine Dickens as told by playwright Ellie Dickens. With David Lloyd as Charles Dickens and Marianne Gaston as Kate.

The play takes us from Catherine's early romance with the ambitious young journalist, across many happy years of marriage to the highly successful novelist, and on to the bleak days when the middle-aged Dickens began to tire of her. After a life spent bearing him ten children, travelling, and entertaining his many famous friends, she was shocked and bewildered to be told that their marriage had been a complete failure. On her deathbed in 1879, she handed a collection of letters to her daughter Kate "so that the world may know that he loved me once". These precious documents became the subject of this moving play.

The performance will last for about an hour with time afterwards for Q&A and a brief summary of the lives of Dickens' 10 children. All ticket proceeds go to the Folk of Gloucester to support the upkeep of our historic building and community hub.