David Copperfield Readers Theater Adaptation of Charles Dickens novel

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:

1. 1. 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.
   2. There are no more than 6 speakers per scene (in the case of any exceptions instructions are given for doubling up)
   3. 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.
   4.  ‘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!