Starring in Dr Marigold & Mr Chops – two one-man plays by Charles Dickens

To coincide with the Festive season Riverside Studios is delighted to present an evening with Simon Callow in two Charles Dickens one-man plays. In Dr Marigold & Mr Chops, and one lucky member can win a pair of tickets to the previews running on 9th-13th December (the winner chooses the date).

Callow brings two great 19th century characters vividly to life, capturing with virtuosity Dickens' world in an evening of enchanting theatre. These pieces have not been performed in London for over 150 years and are a Christmas treat suitable for the whole family.

Unquestionably the most famous writer and perhaps the most famous man of his times, Dickens performed readings of his works around the country and in America, to the ecstatic acclaim of his contemporaries. “I don't know if I ever told you seriously”, Dickens wrote to a friend, “but I have often thought that I should certainly have been as successful on the boards as I have been between them.”

The first of the two pieces Callow performs, Mr Chops, introduces us to the world of nineteenth century celebrity culture, which proves to be not so very different from our own. It's a haunting and powerful parable of instant success and overnight wealth: a circus dwarf with social aspirations wins the lottery, finding himself taken up by high society – only to be thrown aside when they've got what they want from him. It's classic tragic-comic Dickens, “streaky bacon,” as he called it, one moment making you laugh, the very next, tugging at your heart strings.

The other play, Dr Marigold, was second only in popularity to The Christmas Carol in Dickens' repertoire of readings. An astonishing small masterpiece, it tells the story of Marigold, a Cheap Jack (or travelling salesman) whose wife and daughter die tragically. He soldiers on, eventually adopting a deaf-mute girl and teaching her to communicate. Marigold, who speaks almost entirely in patter, is one of Dickens' greatest characters, dazzlingly funny and heartbreakingly touching. Callow, wearing an outrageous orange wig and olive knickerbockers, inhabits the character in all his exuberant brilliance.

Simon Callow is an actor and writer of international repute. He has had a passion for Charles Dickens for many years and has enjoyed considerable success around the world with his one-man show The Mystery of Charles Dickens . Callow is the author of twelve books including Dickens' Christmas ; his glittering acting career spans theatre, film and television. Notable stage roles include Pozzo in Waiting for Godot earlier this year, and he is known the world over for charismatic turns in the Oscar winning films A Room with a View , Howard's End and Shakespeare in Love , and the BAFTA winning Four Weddings and a Funeral .

Dr Marigold & Mr Chops promises to be a unique theatrical event in the charming setting of Riverside Studios by the Thames . The show is directed by Patrick Garland .

If you don't win the competition - you can still see the show - contact the box office on 020 237 1111.