The welfare of children - a theme that ennobles many of the novels of Charles Dickens - captures the sympathy of our century as profoundly as it did that of the author's own contemporaries. Following the history of a fatherless young man, his mother and his sister as they find themselves at the mercy of a greedy and unscrupulous uncle, Nicholas Nickleby is both a vivid indictment of the exploitive, brutal boarding schools of the late nineteenth century and a celebration of the little family's resilient generosity of spirit. A brilliantly innovative eight-hour musical dramatization enjoyed long runs in both England and the U.S. making Nickleby one the most popular Dickens titles of the 1980s. Paul Scofield's performance captures the warmth and charm of this story and its array of colorful characters.