“In this nine hour Royal Shakespeare Company production, all the characters and subplots of Dickens’ novel are presented in a whirlwind of drama, comedy, tragedy and romance. It was a wise decision, when putting the production on film, to retain as much of its theatrical flavor as possible. Because it is that theatricality that produces as much of an impact and lasting impression as the characters and plot.One of the finest theatrical productions of all time, no question. Beautifully staged and brilliantly performed; 39 of the world’s best actors play more than 150 roles.”
Nicholas Nickleby takes place in England in the counties of Devonshire, Yorkshire, Surrey, and Hampshire and in the cities of Portsmouth and London. Nicholas Nickleby is set in the mid-1820s, 15 years earlier than its publication. Dickens antedated many of his stories. But here the date is historically significant. Yorkshire at the period of the novel’s action was a kind of British Siberia. From the 18th century, abusive parents had been dumping their unwanted offspring at cheap boarding schools there. It was all about to change, just at the period Dickens was writing Nicholas Nickleby. Railways, from the late 1830s to the 1860s would network the country. The age of the stagecoach was over, the age of the railway coach began. Nicholas Nickleby is, historically, on the cusp of this revolution. Yorkshire, thanks to steam, would soon be a few hours, not days away. It was no longer remote. – John Sutherland
Starring Alun Armstrong, Suzanne Bertish, Janet Dale, Jane Downs, Cathryn Harrison.
Note: Because Dickens usually set his works in the Victorian era, that is how Nicholas Nickleby is also perceived, despite the novel being set in the mid-1820s in the late Georgian era. Also, there initially some serious complaints about the quality of the DVD transfer; Willow and Thatch does not know if this has since been improved.