FROM Adam Long, founding member of The Reduced Shakespeare Company and co-creator of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) comes Dickens Abridged – a fast-paced musical comedy. An absurdly talented cast of four bring hundreds of the great author’s best-loved characters to life in 70 minutes of madcap Dickensian mayhem.

This wonderful show is a high-speed comic journey through Dickens' Greatest Hits, including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations (complete with flaming bride), David Copperfield, Bleak House in less than sixty seconds, A Tale of Two Cities featuring a fully functioning guillotine, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, and, of course... A Christmas Carol.

It also delves into the bizarre-but-true story of Charles Dickens’ own life, including his complicated romantic entanglements and his inexplicable enthusiasm for performing the bludgeoning scene from Oliver Twist over and over and over again.

This singing, dancing love-letter to the life and works of the great man comes to The Subscription Rooms, Stroud on Friday, November 20. Visit www.subscriptionrooms.co.uk