“You there! Dickens!
Dickens, the Christmas Man!  With your Scrooge and your Spirits and sudden conversions!
Why do you make up such stories?”

The taunter is a scraggly, smelly twelve year old boy, one Algernon Swinburne, perched naked atop a graveyard wall. The target of his tirade: Charles Dickens, author, journalist, would-be thespian, and summer neighbor of Swinburne’s parents on the Isle of Wight. This unpleasant encounter between two giants of world literature–one in middle age, the other yet to write the verses that would make his name–spur Dickens to write a tale that takes up Swinburne’s challenge.

To Begin With is the fascinating story of his struggle to create a personal adaptation of the Biblical Gospels to be performed for his children on Christmas Eve 1849.

Inspired by a little-known work of Charles Dickens (published long after his death under the title The Life of Our Lord), playwright Jeffrey Hatcher’s script is brilliant: witty, insightful and entertaining, offering a unique glimpse into the struggles, temperament and creative process of a great writer.

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