No Thoroughfare

No Thoroughfare is a stage play and novel by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, both released in December 1867.

Background

In 1867 Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins collaborated to produce a stage play titled No Thoroughfare: A Drama: In Five Acts. This was the last stage production to be associated with Dickens, who died in June 1870. The play opened at the Adelphi Theatre on 26 December 1867.

The novel No Thoroughfare was also first published in 1867, in the Christmas number of Dickens's periodical All The Year Round. There are thematic parallels with other books from Dickens's mature writings, including Little Dorrit (1857) and especially Our Mutual Friend (1865).

The publication of the story in All The Year Round represents an early example of commercial merchandising, promoting the story to those who were aware of the stage play, and the play to those who had met the book. The 'chapters' of the book are referred to as 'acts', and match the acts of the play.

In the book Collins assisted in Act 1 and Act 4; Collins scripted most of the stage play with Dickens's assistance.