Charles Dickens For The Disney Set
New U.K. Theme Park Re-Creates Victorian London As Memorialized By Classic Author
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Visitors enjoy a boat trip at the new Dickens World, a Charles Dickens-themed amusement park in Chatham Maritime, southern England. The theme park, which opens officially on May 25, revolves around the life and times of the great Victorian novelist and social commentator. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
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Eddie Sampson in the character as "Ned Fiendish," a rat catcher, at the new Dickens World, which immerses visitors into the urban streets, sounds and smells of 19th century London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
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And what would a recreation of Victorian-Era England be without a Victorian-Era prison? (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
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At an early age, Charles Dickens' middle-class life was upended when his father, due to his extravagant spending, was imprisoned for debt, forcing the 12-year-old boy to leave school to work in a shoe-dye factory, living alone in a North London lodging house. He said it was the most terrible experience of his life, but it provided grist for his perpetually popular fiction. (AP)
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Promotional literature for Dickens World promises the "sounds and smells" of the 19th century. For now it sounds like a construction site and smells of sawdust and fresh paint.
"It's going to be a few weeks, but you can see we're getting there," Christie said.
One aspect of the attraction is inarguably authentic — Dickens' links with this corner of southeast England run deep. The writer spent several years of his childhood in Chatham, where his father worked as a clerk at the Royal Navy dockyards, and he returned to the region late in life. The nearby marshland was memorably evoked in "Great Expectations."
Chatham's docks are long closed, and Dickens World — sandwiched between an outlet mall and a multiplex cinema — is part of the region's attempt at redevelopment.
Management and staff alike are embracing the project with enthusiasm.
"It's a living experience where you can go back in time," said Eddie Sampson, who plays rat catcher and "gentle rogue" Ned Fiendish, one of several characters who will wander the streets of Dickens World adding Victorian color and dispensing directions to visitors.
Sampson has taken to his work with gusto, creating an elaborate biography for his character. He says Ned never knew his father, fought at the battle of Waterloo, supplements rat catching with a bit of housebreaking but has a good heart.
"I invented the entire story," Sampson said with pride.
Managers hope the staff's enthusiasm will rub off on visitors.They want Dickens to be thought of as fun.
Asked for the park's mission statement, Grove quotes the admirable Mr. Sleary from Dickens' "Hard Times": "People must be amused, squire, somehow. They can't be always a-working, nor yet they can't be always a-learning."
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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