Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen Adapted By Matthew Francis
Synopsis
Northanger Abbey is about the dangers of fiction.
Brought up in a sleepy provincial parsonage Catherine Morland lives a safe and comfortable life, which provides her with little excitement. So she lives for much of her time in a fantasy world of romance and mystery based on the Gothic novels of her time, the early 1800’s.
Catherine is suddenly introduced to the complicated world of a “season” at Bath, and tries to make sense of it by constant reference to the gothic romances which have been her all-consuming passion at home. This trip to Bath, also introduces Catherine to real romance but a subsequent stay at Northanger Abbey – which looks like the perfect setting for a novel (Udolpho) by Mrs Anne Radcliffe - leads Catherine into a series of embarrassing misjudgements.
Believing “society” to be very much as Mrs Anne Radcliffe describes it, Catherine makes a number of alarming miscalculations about personalities and relationships. Abashed, Catherine bids farewell to her beloved Gothic world, only to be dealt a cruel blow in the real one. But true love is at hand and all ends happily - Catherine survives – thanks principally to the indulgence of her author.
Matthew Francis's adaptation of Jane Austen’s first novel wryly dramatizes Catherine’s fantasy world alongside the real one, and captures all Austen’s irony and acerbic comment in witty dialogue and narration.
CAST
Cast List coming soon
Directed by Jody Deacon
This amateur production of "Jane Austen's Nothanger Abbey" is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Lrd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk