A Christmas Carol - The Kansas City Repertory Theatre

Collins on the play The Frozen Deep, which was performed in 1857 for Queen Victoria. A young actress
named Ellen Ternan was in the cast. Ternan and Dickens fell in love and shortly thereafter Dickens
separated from his wife.
Throughout the 1860s, Dickens’ health worsened due largely to the extremely intense work schedule
he maintained. He and Ternan were involved in a train accident in 1865 while returning from a holiday in
Paris. Dickens was badly shaken by the accident;
he wrote in the postscript to his novel Our
Mutual Friend (1864): “I remember with devout
thankfulness that I can never be much nearer
parting company with my readers than I was
then, until there shall be written against my life
the two words with which I have today closed
this book —The End.”
In 1869, Dickens collapsed from a stroke during a
reading tour through England, Scotland, and
Ireland and was forced to cancel a scheduled
series of public appearances. He would not,
however, stop writing and within weeks began
working on The Mystery of Edwin Drood. He
suffered another stroke on June 8, 1870, and
died the following day. He was buried on June 14
at Westminster Abbey, London.
By the time of his death, Charles Dickens had written eighteen novels, traveled the world, and lectured
strongly for social reform of many types. The Times of London wrote in its eulogy published June 11,
1870: “He was of the people, and lived among them . . . and [his stories] caught, with an intuitive force
and fullness, their daily life.”
Laura Muir
Director of Communications
Kansas City Repertory Theatre
A Christmas Carol: Learning Guide Page 9