Dickens Fringe Festival

2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the death of Charles Dickens, a quintessentially British writer, whose books remain very much part of the world’s literary canon. Yet, despite the cosy nostalgia surrounding much of Dickensian representation, he remains, as George Orwell wrote; “..certainly a subversive writer, a radical, one might truthfully say a rebel”.

It is that rebellious and critical eye that Dickens cast over the poverty, neglect, and cruelty of Victorian England that the Dickens Fringe seeks to honour in a series of talks and performances. Just as the upper floor of Dickens’ writing chalet was lined with mirrors so that he could see himself from every angle as he practiced his public recitations, Dickens Fringe seeks to examine every facet of the man and the relevance of his work in the contemporary world.

A group of local people active in music, theatre, academia, and the arts in Medway, have come together to create a Dickens Fringe that will complement the official celebrations of Charles Dickens.

Offering a series of perspectives, the Dickens Fringe Festival will deepen, enhance, or even challenge, our shared understandings of a writer, campaigner, and social critic whose work is as important today as it ever was.