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The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | Introduction

When it appeared on the London stage in 1980, David Edgar's Nicholas Nickleby became the longest play ever produced, and when it moved to a lavish production in New York for the eight-and-one-half hour theater endurance test (viewed either in one marathon sitting or in two long evenings), it boasted the most expensive theatre ticket price ever set, at $100 each. Edgar found himself identifying more and more with the Dickensian spirit of being ‘‘generously angry’’ as he worked on Nicholas Nickleby. This is a play that takes the social consciousness of the original Dickens novel to new dimensions, where audiences can be reminded of the need for social reform, as well as uplifted by the play's message. Edgar sees three avenues of success in his production: ''First, it looks at adaptations in a new way. It says that a group of people with a strong view about the world can take a work of art and frame it and transform it in a way that makes the adaptation one not of the original work of art but about the original work of art. Point two ... it's accessible; it's not obscure.... [And] the third point is that it was ... on the side of the underdog for the entirety of its not inconsiderable length." The play combines Dickensian social realism with modern theatrical spectacle and genuine heart.

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Summary

Part 1, Act 1
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby briefly outlines the reasons that Nicholas Nickleby, his sister Kate, and their mother travel to London— because of the father's death—and then portrays a town meeting wherein a large muffin company ousts private ‘‘muffin boys’’ through a ruse of guaranteeing lower muffin prices to help the poor. Surveying the selling of the new company's stock is Nicholas's parsimonious uncle, Ralph Nickleby, to whom the now-destitute relatives turn for assistance. Ralph places Nicholas as an assistant in Dotheboys Hall, a Yorkshire boarding school, and Kate in a milliner's shop, coldly splitting them apart. Kate and Mrs. Nickleby move out of their temporary lodgings with the kind portrait artist, Miss La Creevy, and into one of Ralph's sparsely furnished rental homes. Nicholas is skeptical of the one-eyed schoolmaster, Mr. Wackford Squeers, with his appalling lack of knowledge and his gruff treatment of the charges, most of whom are illegitimate or disfigured. Nevertheless, Nicholas dares not question his employer until Squeers starts to beat Smike, a severely limited student whom Nicholas has befriended. In a fit of rage, Nicholas strikes Squeers, and Smike is able to make a getaway. Then Nicholas, too, departs, and Mrs. Squeers tends to her husband. Nicholas runs into John Browdie, a neighbor engaged to a friend of Squeers's daughter Fanny. John gives Nicholas a bear hug for beating the schoolmaster. Smike and Nicholas take the road back to London. Fanny writes a letter to Ralph Nickleby condemning Nicholas as having ruthlessly attacked both of her parents. In the meantime, Kate has been taken in by Madame Mantalini and her crew of milliners. Because she is... » Complete The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Summary