Dickens World
Some mornings, while I'm in bed listening to NPR and struggling toward consciousness, there's a story that sounds so much like an April Fool's gag that I open one bleary eye to raise an eyebrow. (Which is OK--befuddlement and skepticism are a better wake-up than being startled by a buzzer, not to mention an acceptable mindset for dealing with the rest of the day's news.)
This morning, that story was about the opening next month of Dickens World in Chatham Maritime, Kent, about an hour outside London. It's exactly what you're thinking: a theme park based on the life and works of Charles Dickens, complete with boat rides through faux Victorian sewers and streets (theme: the escape of prisoner Magwitch from Great Expectations), Scrooge's haunted house, burlesque dinner shows, Newgate Prison, an Old Curiosity Shoppe, animatronics and costumed characters (including pickpockets a la Oliver Twist, I hope?), the Dotheboys Hall classroom where kids can get yelled at by a schoolmaster, and a children's play area called Fagin's Den. As a BBC article reports, the owners say the attraction promises a "dark, smoky, moody London, full of smells and mist." Wow, misery, murk, abuse, and dubious odors? Count me in!
Seriously, this is such a deliciously barmy concept that I might have to check it out when I go back to London in August. Besides, I wholeheartedly approve of putting The Fear into the small fry--"Keep acting up, Billy, and I'll leave you in Fagin's Den or Ye Olde Child Labour Workshoppe."
