Dickens and the Stage While this overview of Charles Dickens's connection to the theater does not specifically reference Pfaffian John Brougham's many adaptations of Dickens's novels, it does have a useful chapter on "Adaptations and Impersonations" (136-85). In addition, Pemberton briefly mentions Dickens's knowledge of Ada Isaacs Menken, the Pfaffian who dedicated her 1873 volume of poems Infelicia to Dickens. Menken: 227, 248