O autor em cena: as leituras públicas de A Christmas Carol, de Charles Dickens

Abstract

The object of this study was the novelette A Christmas Carol, by the English writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870+), specially concerning about its presentation on Dickens Public Readings, spectacles in which, on stage, the author would read pieces of his books. The objective was to observe the transformation process of the novelette to the Public Reading performances. Dickens adapted the text for stage through manuscript notes on a printed edition of the original text. This volume, named by Philip Collins as prompt-copy and by us, in Portuguese, as Roteiro de Leitura (Reading Script), was used as a guide for rehearsals and performances. We had access to the prompt-copy by means of the manuscript facsimile, edited by Philip Collins in the book A Christmas Carol: the Public Reading Version (1971). Firstly published in 1843, the novelette A Christmas Carol was already on the repertoire of the author s first Public Reading, presented, in 1853, with the intention of collecting funds for charity. Five years later, Dickens began to perform professionally, in a career that lasted twelve years. His repertoire counted with sixteen items, being A Christmas Carol one of the most enjoyed by the author and by the public. Such repertoire was carefully adapted for the stage. Dickens not only read the contents, but interpreted each character, seeking to create a variety of voices, gestures and emotions. Altogether, he presented about 470 times, in England, in Ireland, in Scotland, in Paris and in the United States. A Christmas Carol, the longest item in the repertoire, was read in no less than 127 performances, being part of the author s last Reading, in 1870. First, we made a historic contextualization of Dickens Public Readings, seeking to understand which aspects of that context were favorable to their good reception and that made them possible. Then, understanding Paul Zumthor s concept of performance, we analyzed A Christmas Carol s Public Readings, observing them with respect to the textual and performance aspects. In this way, we tried both to perceive the adaptation process of the text, through the analyses of the manuscript, and to form an idea about the scenic aspects of the Public Readings, by registers of spectators who witnessed them.