Almost by definition, one-man shows tend to be more easily adapted to television than are larger-scale plays. Indeed, Alan Bennet's Talking Heads series of monologues, which played well at the Comedy Theatre in London — and on tour — started life on television before being staged.
Now, Simon Callow's one-man show about Charles Dickens, written by London expert and author Peter Ackroyd and directed by Patrick Garland (and currently at the Albery Theatre) is to be broadcast on British television on Channel 4 on April 3.
Callow, who is taking the play to New York, has exactly the larger-than-life stage presence required to play Dickens, and is, like his subject, an author as well. In The Mystery of Charles Dickens, he re-creates many favorite characters and scenes from Dickens' huge range of novels, bringing them alive on a relatively bare stage.