Description
David Copperfield Readers Theater Adaptation of Charles Dickens novel is co-narrated by the narrator and Charles Dickens – in the case of the latter, drawing many parallels between David’s life and his own.
Cast of 6 – can be adapted ‘up’ to 13 readers, or ‘down’ – by doubling up.
Duration: Around 15 minutes.
This script has been adapted from the original David Copperfield playscript available separately off TES and www.plays-r-ussell.com
The original script has been adapted to Readers Theater in the following ways:
- Music suggestions and stage directions have been removed BUT ‘scene titles’ have been kept in or added, with an inclusion of the identification of readers for that scene.
- There are no more than 6 speakers per scene (in the case of any exceptions instructions are given for doubling up)
- All characters in the script are identified in a list in the production notes – these are In addition to the principal characters. Thus additional readers could take on these ‘extra’ parts.
- ‘6’ has been chosen as an arbitrary number – thus the script offers opportunities for adapting this number to suit the number of readers available.
Sample Text:
Dickens: Same thing happened to me – I had my education cut short too when my father got into debt and my whole family ended up in Marshalsea Debtor’s Prison.
Narrator: Whoa! So, you experienced first-hand what it was like to be destitute?
Dickens: I did. Though I got lodgings elsewhere, near where I worked in a warehouse, putting labels on pots
Narrator: Just like David Copperfield! He worked in a glass bottle warehouse, sticking on labels
Dickens: Yes, mine were pots of blacking, that’s shoe polish at a place called Warren’s Blacking Warehouse, where I made a great friend, Bob Fagin!
Narrator: (Laughing) There you go! One of your book characters, in real life!
Dickens: Correct! And another character from David Copperfield, Mr. Micawber, who took David in as a lodger, was based on my father! A lovely man, but absolutely terrible with money!
Narrator: Yes, those Micawbers treated David like one of the family. But London didn’t suit them, they too ran out of money, so they moved to Plymouth, leaving David behind. A sad day for him.
Dickens: But like me, David Copperfield was resourceful! He picked himself up and moved onto better things. I was thankfully reunited with my family after my father inherited some money so I could return to school; and then I joined a firm of lawyers.
Narrator: How about we find out what David did!
