There’s something about Charles Dickens. You may groan at the page count of his many brick-heavy classic tomes, but the man knows how to tell a story. Maybe it’s the idea of Victorian London brought to life, maybe it’s a soft-side for orphanage stories (hellooo, Harry Potter), maybe it’s the rags-to-riches formula so well-utilized throughout all his novels… or maybe it’s the fact that as a college student, I’m all too familiar with the rags part of the story, at least while we sell our souls to the loan banks and rely sorely on ramen noodles as our primary source of nourishment. All in all, I’m a big fan of Chuck, and chances are, you probably are, too.
The truth is, even though nobody will admit it, everyone secretly wishes they could be transported back to Dickensian England, at least for one night. Think of it as the nerdier spinoff of “Midnight in Paris”: who doesn’t want to stroll around London’s cobblestone streets, drop by the old orphanage, and see men in waistcoats and tophats without having to be unceremoniously thrown out by security for trespassing the BBC film studios?
Thankfully, Philadelphians don’t have to go far (or assault any British media outlets) to pay homage to the father of English scruffiness. On February 5th at 2pm, drop by the Griffith Hall at University of the Sciences (43rd and Kingsessing) for the annual Charles Dickens Birthday Party In West Philadelphia, located on 43rd and Chester Streets. The gathering marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth, the cause of which we have to thank for bringing “Great Expectations” and “A Tale of Two Cities” into our high school summer reading list, as well as several Disney versions of “A Christmas Carol” starring Donald Duck. On the itinerary? Birthday cake for Dickens and a procession across the street to his statue on Clark Park to sing Happy Birthday, as well as dramatic re-tellings of some of his best stories and musical presentation from both local and (because it couldn’t be any other way) British artists paying their
respects to the father of charming misfortune.
Also on the menu: the Kingsessing Morris Men dancers, who will perform Morris dancing during the reception. Apparently, it’s some kind of medieval dance in which full-grown men dress up in ballet shoes with white knee-high socks and hack a bunch of sticks around while circling each other and bowing a lot, something that I would definitely pay good money to witness. Thankfully for me and my wallet, the event is free for the public! Good ol’ Chuck would’ve been proud.
