Bleak House

by Charles Dickens

Read by Sean Barrett and Teresa Gallagher

UNABRIDGED

Watch the video trailer.

‘“A dreary name,” said the Lord Chancellor...’ (Chapter III). His Lordship is referring to Bleak House – and Dickens himself, perhaps with the Lord Chancellor’s opinion in mind, took some time to arrive at this title for his book. This was to be his ninth novel, written at the height of his powers, but it was to be unlike any of his previous novels; it was to be a novel of purpose. Dickens had a message to convey on a grand scale, and there was to be no central character who would dominate the narrative. Having completed the ultimate biographical novel in David Copperfield, he set about writing a biography of the nation in Bleak House. Biographical titles like Oliver Twist or David Copperfield would therefore be inappropriate. Instead, his novel was to reflect the state of England in 1853 – a vast undertaking.

For the title Dickens considered that a building central to the plot would serve as a unifying image to the disparate storyline, with its two narrators and conflicting literary styles. As in David Copperfield where Mr Micawber, for example, had been a portrait of his indigent father, Dickens once again drew upon his own experiences, family and friends to provide the archetypes for Bleak House. This proved to be controversial; Dickens finally settled on Bleak House without any explanatory sub-title or additions. This enigmatic title would allow his readers to reflect and apply it as they chose to the contents of the novel, whose projected image of England is indeed in many ways – bleak.

The novel

The story is told by two narrators – a unique feature of Dickens’s work. Esther, self-effacingly tells her own story, whilst an anonymous voice unravels the mystery of Lady Dedlock’s story. But characters cross into both stories and at times Esther’s story is told by the other narrator. This inter-mixing and crossing of conventions produces a complicated plot, at times disconcerting, that was criticised on its first publication as being in ‘absolute want of construction.’ But Dickens was evolving a new type of novel – he spread his net wide to include a vast range of characters to give a panoramic view of English society from top to bottom, and to show how the highest and the lowest interact.

Such diversity also helped him in the construction of what is essentially a mystery story, a ‘who-dun-it’, where characters and plot-strands appear like clues and can just as likely turn out to be red herrings. Bleak House could in fact be called the first detective novel in English Literature, as it pre-dates The Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins.

The Naxos AudioBooks recording

Readers Sean Barrett and Teresa Gallagher joined forces to record this memorable rendition of the classic Dickens novel at Soundtracks Studio. Adrian Sear of Soundtracks took some footage of them reading for the video trailer.

Sean Barrett started acting as a boy on BBC children’s television in the days before colour, when it went out live. He grew up through Z Cars, Armchair Theatre, Minder and Father Ted. His theatre credits include Peter Pan at the old Scala Theatre and Noel Coward’s Suite in 3 Keys in the West End. Films include War& Peace, Dunkirk and A Cry from the Streets. He was a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company. He also features in Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable, The Voice of the Buddha and Canterbury Tales III and read the part of Vladimir in Waiting for Godot and Nakata in Kafka on the Shore for Naxos AudioBooks.

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Teresa Gallagher has performed in many leading roles in both plays and musicals across the country, London’s West End and Broadway. In addition, she is a well-known voice to listeners of BBC Radio Drama. Her work on film includes The Misadventures of Margaret and Mike Leigh’s Topsy Turvy. For Naxos AudioBooks she has recorded the Biography of Jane Austen and selections from The Decameron by Boccaccio. She has also read Classic Women’s Short Stories, Heidi, The Treasure Seekers, The Wouldbegoods and The Story of Jesus for Naxos AudioBooks.

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Reading Bleak House

What is it like to read Charles Dickens unabridged? Teresa Gallagher who reads the ‘Esther Summerson’ chapters in Bleak House, recalls her days in the studio:

‘Being asked to read Bleak House was rather a daunting task I must admit. I’d never done any unabridged audio books before or any Dickens, but spurred on by friends and colleagues, I accepted the challenge.
It turns out I was right to feel overwhelmed– It was the most difficult book reading I’ve ever done, but ultimately the most rewarding. Although Dickens can write some extremely long sentences (occasionally extending to thirteen or fourteen lines!) the sheer detail of the characters he draws, not to mention the riveting story, are so absorbing, that the technical difficulties are soon forgotten.
I found it easy and enjoyable to ‘become’ Esther over the days of recording: she felt very real to me. Observing the other people in the story through her eyes often shed light on her own sense of humour and sensitivity.
I had suspected that the biggest challenge would come from sustaining the individuality of each character, giving them all a recognisable voice, but it turned out not to be so. Dickens paints such vivid detail of each one that the voices come quite naturally. I also conferred a lot with Sean Barrett on how to characterise the people who appeared in both the narrative and Esther’s chapters so we could try and match them throughout.
Although my script was covered in markings to help guide me through a style of writing that I was not so familiar with and the names of each character were written next to each line they spoke, I did not need character voice notes thanks to Dickens’ wonderfully written illustrations of each and every one.
No, the real challenge came from the sheer stamina I needed to draw on for such a reading. Having done many years of theatre, television, film, and radio, this took the biscuit! I think Bleak House is a truly wonderful story, a real ‘page turner’ and I feel very glad to have had the opportunity to help in telling that story.