ABSTRACT
The fi rst time I heard of Captain Murderer was in the Jerusalem Theater many years ago when the Welsh actor Emlyn Williams (1905-1987) gave a reading of scenes from the works of Charles Dickens (1812-1870). Williams’s performance was a recreation of the initiative of Dickens himself who, in the late 1850s, took on yet another activity and persona, that of the itinerant player, and began a series of public tours in which he read from his own works.2 Of all the pieces Williams performed on that occasion, the story of “a certain Captain Murderer” remains most vividly present to memory not only for its eerie atmosphere and plot but, especially, for its effect on the audience. I can still recall the collective gasp of horror as well as the outbursts of laughter that the story’s denouement elicited from a captivated company of listeners.
