Dickens on the Strand offers a Victorian escape
A 70-degree afternoon in downtown Galveston with the Gulf Coast sun beating down might not be the most ideal setting for a performance of “A Christmas Carol,” but Mark Charles Dickens did his best to bring his family’s brand of holiday spirit to this year’s Dickens on the Strand celebration.
Dickens — the great-greatgrandson of Charles Dickens, the 19th century English literary icon —made his return to the festival after 12 years and didn’t miss a beat. His lively one-man reading received warm reviews from the crowd, many of whom were dressed in the traditional Victorian garb from the time period the story takes place.
“He did a spectacular job,” said Lance Hatcher, a goateed member of the Juggler’s Pointe troupe —one of the Dickens on the Strand vendors — who sat through the entire reading. “I’ve read through the text probably three or four times my whole life. I got his autograph, he came over and thanked me for sitting through the whole thing. Here’s a guy pouring it out and doing a fabulous job of it, it scratches your nostalgia itch a bit.”
For Dickens, the return to Galveston was particu-
larly meaningful. Since his last visit more than a decade ago, the city was battered by two massive hurricanes and has undergone a revitalization, particularly in the Strand area, now a hub of tourism and commerce.
And of course, the recent devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey dovetailed well with the poignant Dickensian theme of redemption that resonates throughout “A Christmas Carol.”
“There is a certain link with the tragedy (Texas has) had,” Dickens said. “(Charles) Dickens was one of the great social reformers of his time, he spent all of his waking hours trying to do something about the poor and downtrodden. Writing about them was one thing, but he did a lot more than that because he experienced it, he had been there himself.” A quick getaway
Indeed, the organizers, the Galveston Historical Foundation, made it clear that they hoped this year’s festival would serve as something of an escape from the hard reality of hurricane recovery.
“A lot of places are still rebuilding, for a lot of people the holidays is the first chance they’re gonna have to get out from a lot of the work that they’ve been doing and I hope that Dickens is part of that,” said Will Wright, director of communications and special events for the Galveston Historical Foundation.
For Kat Collins, who drove from Katy, getting away from the slog of hurricane recovery was a big reason she and her husband, Charlie, decided to attend for the first time. Collins, sitting stately with a drink in hand wearing a billowy purple Victorian gown, said her neighborhood was hit particularly hard.
“Most of our neighborhood was devastated. We got very lucky. We were three houses away from being flooded, so our house was like a staging area,” Collins said. “So I think with all of that, just to have things like (Dickens on the Strand) where you can come and de-stress is important. Everyone here has a smile on their face.”
‘An original’
Dickens, a United Kingdom native, noted Galveston’s own troubled history with hurricanes as part of the reason the city remains alluring to him. There’s a frozen-in-time aspect of Galveston that resonates.
“Because (Galveston) was the capital of the West, it had fantastic architecture and because of the (1900 hurricane) and the fact that the city was abandoned, it’s still there,” he said. “That’s what’s so special about Galveston, it’s an original — and the way that they’ve renovated some of these buildings is fantastic. Every time you come back you notice something different.”
Dickens added that his great-great-grandfather would likely have enjoyed Galveston and all of its trappings.
“Sadly, he never came here. He never crossed the Mississippi. But he would’ve loved it. He liked a party.”
Dickens on the Strand continues through Sunday. Tickets are available through the Galveston Historical Foundation.