Dickens World [S. Worthen

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Imagine a theme park based on the works of Charles Dickens.

What comes to mind? Pigeons, prisoners, paupers. Corrupt bankers, grim aunts, specters, and pickpockets. Fierce satire and pointed parody. Abusive husbands and lonely orphans. (To be fair, I have not read most of his books. Perhaps there's perkier content in some of the others.)

Improbable as it seems, some version of Dickens World is due to open in Chatham (UK) in 2007.

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There are 16 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

that's okay...Bede's World exists in Northern England. :-)

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And I've been there! It actually wasn't too bad - except for the towering pylons which surround the site and ruin the otherwise decent illusion of an 8th century village.

It's true, if Dickens World runs with the Bede's World concept and just recreates a village (or a couple of blocks) in the style of the period, that could work for more upbeat entertainment purposes.

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The London Dungeon?

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That's a good prototype for how I envision much of Dickens World, yes.

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yeah, I've heard lots of things about the Dungeon...most of which scared me away from going. :-)

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I remember it being disappointing when I went - but that was long enough ago that all my memories of it are dusty. The same sort of dusty that, when it appears in a recreation exhibit like the London Dungeon, ruins what verisimilitude it has.

It must have some allure, though. It seems to still be doing serious business - or maybe that's just a tribute to their advertising budget and the volume of tourists which pass through London.

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wow. that truly boggles my mind. i'd hope that certain foods of the time would be, um... given a pass in the interests of universal gastronomic harmony.

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I'm deeply certain they won't be able to recreate the coal-smogged air either... unless there's a special indoor simulator for it...

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mmm, london fog!

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hehe, that's great. Well, I'll try and go see it when they build it!

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I'm still holding out for Temperance world, or the Romance of the Rose theme park ...

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Do we get to burn it all down before we leave, with roses for all on the way out?

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Haaaaaaaaaa.

actually the whole concept is kind of creepy if I start to examine it too closely :-[ ...

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Or else - Everyone gets locked in a room for three hours at a time and forced to listen to a particularly pedantic lecture on mythology! It'll be fun, really!

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That's what I'm going to be doing in Purgatory. Well, that and making ravioli ...

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This, I suspect, will be the Dingley Dell Christmas, Disneyfied version of jolly Dickens and his cast of lovable eccentrics... Tchah! (Channeling Betsy Trotwood's emotions about donkeys into this project.) The Medway Towns (of which Chatham is one) already have an annual Dickens festival in which people dress up and be Dickensian.
Me, I want Gissing World...

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S. Worthen | Weblog

Dickens World

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October