Nicholas Nickleby in Pictures

See pictures from Part 1 of Nicholas Nickleby, featuring pictures by Mark S. Howard.

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Part 1 Opens: Reactions from the Cast

The 24 person cast, plus designers, crew, and staff members

“I absolutely LOVE my work with you all. I feel so incredibly lucky to be in this show with such wonderful people and working on material that has such depth. Thank you each for the part you play. Goodness, we are lucky.” –Erica Spyres, Tilda Price, Miss Snevellicci

“This is a dream company and Nick/Nick will be a landmark in Boston theatre history. I am both humbled and proud to be a part of it.” –Will Lyman, Ralph Nickleby

“Speaking from my point of view behind the table/scenes, I'm so proud and appreciative to be a part of this show. To be able to see the talent of the actors, directors, designers and technicians that I work with every day reminds me of how inspiring and amazing theater can be. I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for constantly inspiring me and for helping me to love what I do SO much! I will be forever grateful to be able to say I was part of the Nick/Nick family!” –Amanda Ostrow, Production Assistant
“I have never been as excited to begin a 12-hour tech than I am today. Our Nick/Nick is chock full of people, characters, and experiences that make going to work exciting and 'always a joy'. The Lyric is so full of life and love on this production and I am so incredibly proud to be a part of it with such a talented and lovely group of people.” –Cat Dunham-Meilus, Production Assistant

“After 6 weeks, I still watch the scenes I'm not in. I cannot think of a better way to express my appreciation for everything everyone is doing. Someone once told me that an ensemble is a group of people who, rather than striving to make themselves look good, are doing their best to make every other person on stage look good. I hope I'm doing my part, because I know everyone else is making me feel like a champion.” –Daniel Berger-Jones, John Browdie, Lord Verisopht

Dicken's Guide to Minding Your Manners

Recently, we've been studying the etiquette of Victorian England, and what it took to be a gentleman or a lady. Here's a hint: a lot. The Victorians were very concerned with how one behaved, and the rules for what one should and should not do were complex and detailed. Much of what we consider to be basic ideals of behavior and courtesy (e.g., Do not talk while your mouth is full, or give up your seat to an elderly person) began during the Victorian Era. Here are a few of my favorite rules:

1. For the gentleman: "Never scratch your head, pick your teeth, clean your nails, or worse of all, pick your nose in company; all these things are disgusting. Spit as little as possible and never upon the floor"
2. For the ladies: "a young lady should be expected to shine in the art of conversation, but not too brightly."
3. For gentleman and ladies: "a gentleman may take two ladies upon his arms, but under no circumstances should the lady take the arms of two gentlemen."

So until next time, remember: “You may bow to a woman in a window, if you are in the street, but you must not bow from a window to a lady in the street.” Mind your manners, please.

Test your knowledge of Victorian etiquette with this fun role-playing game from the Musee McCord Museum.

Creating Nicholas Nickleby: The Set

Watch the video below for the speedy version of the set construction in the theatre:

Rehearsal Video

Watch video from The Nicholas Nickleby Rehearsal Center below!

The ensemble of THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF NICHOLAS NICKLEBY rehearses narration for the production at The Nicholas Nickleby Rehearsal Center. The cast includes: Leigh Barrett, Daniel Berger-Jones, Peter A. Carey, Neil A. Casey, Sasha Castroverde, Larry Coen, Daniel Cohen, Michael Steven Costello, Jack Cutmore-Scott, John Davin, Janelle Day-Mills, Kerry Dowling, Nigel Gore, Eric Hamel, Hannah Husband, Maureen Keiller, Will Lyman, Joseph Marrella, Grant McDermott, Sally Nutt, Jason Powers, Elizabeth Rimar, Alycia Sacco, Erica Spyres

To London and Beyond: Breathing Life into Nicholas Nickleby

"To LONDON!"
In a cavernous, almost empty, and very echo-y warehouse space in the South Boston Waterfront District on September 14th, 24 voices thundered that phrase in unison for the first time. It was about hour 4 of our first rehearsal, and Spiro had just finished his first "pencil sketch" of the opening scene. It was the perfect way to begin our work on this text.

The Nicholas Nickleby Rehearsal Center is an empty warehouse next to the Design Center.

The first rehearsal always has its own energy - equal parts nerves and excitement. As the cast was looking at the lovely costume renderings by Rafael and listening to assistant costume designer Kathleen Doyle discuss their plans, Spiro turned to me and said, "I'm directing Nicholas Nickleby!" with both joy and awe heavy in his voice.

And as we've settled into the space and the world we're creating, that joy and awe still peek their heads out. Sometimes it comes from the text, like when the entire echo-filled room of 30+ people went silent to hear a small exchange between Smike and Nicholas, and sometimes it arrives when the entire company is screaming with laughter (thank you, Larry Coen as Young Wackford!)

Spiro addresses several members of the cast in rehearsal

Of course, there have been challenges. Some actors are still finding out that they are playing a new role in rehearsal. Sadly, Peter Carey has been unable to sway Spiro's mind, and the role of the Stableboy has not been brought back in. (Keep trying, Peter!)

This is my favorite part of the rehearsal process. After all the preparations, all the pieces being rearranged and sorted through for the hundreth time, now the play is suddenly bursting and breathing with life. Moments are beginning to be delved into, characters are beginning to form, and suddenly Nicholas Nickleby is here and now.

First Rehearsal!

An excerpt from the Stage Manager's report after the first rehearsal of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby:

We’re on our way! The meet ‘n’ greet at the top of rehearsal introduced our stellar cast to our brilliant staff and the myriad policies and procedures in place at the theatre. Moving right along into our designer presentations, Janie Howland was first up and she whetted all appetites for the real deal with her model and pictures of the set. Next up was costumes and Rafael’s radiant associate Kathleen Doyle was on hand in his stead to go over the warp and the weft of the costume design scheme for the show. And if all of this was not fun enough, dialect coach Amelia Broome joined us for a few delightful moments to say “hello” and introduce herself to the cast.

To round out the talking portion of the day, Spiro spoke for a bit about the play now we’re all here together on a road that leads all of the way back to 1980, when it was produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Then he got right down to assigning narration lines at the top of the show as he began staging. We got to page 11 by the end of the day.

(By Nerys Powell, Stage Manager)

Director Spiro Veloudos addresses the full cast of ...Nicholas Nickleby at the first rehearsal.