Photo Flash: First Look at Miriam Margolyes in CST's DICKENS' WOMEN

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) joins the international celebration of the bicentennial of Charles Dickens' birth, Dickens 2012, with a World's Stage presentation of the Olivier Award-nominated production Dickens' Women, featuring actress Miriam Margolyes, tonight, December 18-22, 2012 in the theater Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the show below.

Miriam Margolyes is recognized for the iconic role of Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films, The Nurse in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, and Mrs. Mingott in Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence for which she won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award. Margolyes brings to the stage 23 of Dickens' best-loved characters-from doe-eyed young heroines to brow-beating old harridans-as she sets out to discover Charles Dickens himself.

Miriam Margolyes has acted in over 100 films and teleVision Productions, including her multiple appearances in the British sitcom Blackadder. In addition to her screen credits, Margolyes created the role of Madame Morrible in the London stage production of Wicked, which she reprised on Broadway. She also starred as Nell in Theatre du Complicite's West End production of Samuel Beckett's Endgame, for which she won a What's On Stage Award for Best Supporting Actress. Margolyes will soon be seen with Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogan in the film The Guilt Trip, scheduled for release in December 2012.

Margolyes originally developed Dickens' Women with co-writer and director Sonia Fraser for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1989. The production pays homage to some of English literature's most iconic women, including Mrs. Micawber from David Copperfield, Miss Havisham in Great Expectations and the grotesque Mrs. Gamp from Martin Chuzzlewit. Dickens' Women offers an intimate evening of indelible characters, revealing everything from the raucous humor of Dickens' characterizations to the darker, more sinister aspects of his life and work.

For tickets and more information, visit: www.chicagoshakes.com.

Photo Credit: Prudence Upton