Northanger Abbey (NHB Modern Plays)

Catherine Morland knows little of the world, but who needs real-life experience when you have novels to guide you? Seizing her chance to escape her claustrophobic family and join the smart set in Bath, she meets worldly, sophisticated Isabella Thorpe - Iz, to her friends - and so Cath's very own adventure begins. This playful and surprising reimagining of Northanger Abbey is infused with the spirit of Jane Austen's original novel and fizzes with imagination and humour. It was premiered in 2024 at the Orange Tree Theatre, London, before touring to Octagon Theatre, Bolton, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, and Theatre by the Lake, Keswick. 'Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of any sort of... disappointed love.' 'A smartly playful adaptation that pulses with real passions... it asks big, clever questions about personal agency, authorship and control... Austen would thoroughly approve' - Evening Standard 'Moves at a tremendous clip... the wooing is done with such subtlety and good humour' - The Times 'An incisive adaptation that approaches the tale from a fresh, contemporary angle... exuberantly, unashamedly silly... Quick-fire scenes jump about in time, skilfully picking apart the narrative with flashbacks that offer new context, or cutting away to asides where the characters debate their real intentions... an appealing, intriguingly flawed protagonist... unexpected and intriguing' - The Stage 'A spirited three-hander romp... it's exhilarating, transmuting Austen's daftest novel into something really quite beautiful' - Time Out

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction set among the landed gentry have earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature.