Georgian Plays (circa 1780-1830) Our Regency repertore includes adaptations of four of Jane Austen's most loved novels, a prequel to 'Pride And Prejudice', and some less well known plays of the period.

	Emma       by Jane Austen adapted by Tim Luscombe (3m, 4f or 5m, 6f) Austen’s masterpiece takes us on a joyful journey packed full of warmth and wit, romantic schemes and mistaken intentions. Tim Luscombe (who’s had great success with his other Jane Austen adaptations; Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park and Persuasion) relates Austen’s story with verve and style, honouring its central themes and transporting its famous characters to the stage, including the dashing and restrained Mr Knightley, the comically hypochondriac Mr Woodhouse and the sublimely dull Miss Bates!
	Lady Susan      (by Jane Austen, adapted by Kathryn Attwood) (6m, 6f) Lady Susan Vernon is not your typical Austen heroine. The original merry widow, she flirts her way through Regency society, hapless teenage daughter in tow, gaining lovers and a reputation as “the most accomplished coquette in England”.  Penniless and reliant on the charity of reluctant friends and estranged family she needs to marry again – and soon!  Jane Austen’s lesser-known comic novel was written entirely in the form of letters but makes a seamless and very funny transition to the stage as this fully scripted adaptation shows.
	Mansfield Park      (by Jane Austen, adapted by Gillian Hiscock) (4m, 6f)  A splendid costume drama adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel. The story follows Fanny Price's admission into the family of her titled relatives, the Bertrams, and their treatment of her. It features a delightful 'play within a play', a wedding, and ballroom dance.  "This adaptation indulges Jane Austen's predilection for matchmaking, moralising and mockery". (Camden New Journal)
	Mansfield Park      (by Jane Austen, adapted by Pamela Whalen) (6m, 7f) Fanny Price is the poor relation of Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, and has, from the age of ten, lived with the wealthy Bertram family at Mansfield Park. The shy and retiring Fanny is an intelligent observer of the flirtations and foibles of her four cousins and the sophisticated brother and sister, Henry and Mary Crawford, who move into the neighbourhood and disrupt the peace of the Bertram family.
	Persuasion      (by Jane Austen, adapted by Pamela Whalen) (5m, 8f) The bittersweet story of love that might have been. At the age of nineteen, Anne Elliot was persuaded to refuse an offer of marriage from a young naval officer. Their paths cross again eight years later, but now Anne is a faded spinster and her father is badly in debt, while Captain Wentworth has made his fortune in the war and is a much sought after matrimonial prize.
	Pride And Prejudice      (by Jane Austen, adapted by Pamela Whalen) (4m, 11f) It is not only fans of Jane Austen’s much-loved novel, centred as it is on romantic manoeuvres in early 19th century England, who have been delighted by this adaptation, audience comments too, make it clear that people unfamiliar with the book also had a good time. The title of the play refers to the relationship between the Bennet's second oldest daughter, Elizabeth, and Mr Darcy, a wealthy but reserved man who is the subject of marital scheming by many people, including his imperious aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and Miss Bingley, the sister of one of his friends.
	Sense And Sensibility      (by Jane Austen, adapted by Pamela Whalen) (6m, 6f) Lose your heart and come to your senses as you follow the fortunes of Elinor, the sensible sister and Marianne, the sister who is ruled by her feelings. The reserve of one sister and the lack of reserve of the other can equally lead to their undoing as they struggle to come to terms with the poverty thrust upon them by their father’s untimely death.
	The Watsons      (by Jane Austen, adapted and completed by Kathryn Attwood) (6m, 7f) Emma Watson, one-time heiress, comes down to earth with a bump when forced to join her hilariously unsuccessful sisters in their hunt for husbands. Jane Austen’s early, unfinished novel is here completed as a highly comic stage play with a wealth of character parts for both sexes. Jane Austen abandoned her novel 'The Watsons' in 1805, possibly due to the death of her father that year. This completed stage version received its premiere in 2017, to mark the bicentenary of the author’s death.

Mr Bennet's Bride (4m, 6f) Mr Bennet’s Bride is an original period comedy, based on Mr and Mrs Bennet from Jane Austen’s 'Pride and Prejudice', exploring how this ill-matched couple met and married twenty five years before the novel’s opening. In the late eighteenth century, marriage is more a business transaction than a love affair. Pressure mounts on the young Mr Bennet to find a suitable match, but his refusal to play by the rules sets in motion a series of events that are both comic and moving.

In co-operation with the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds,
we present a series of fascinating titles, each of which
has been explored initially in a rehearsed reading.
In some cases the plays have been adapted from the
original text, and all have undergone a full-scale production at the Theatre, receiving significant interest and acclaim from audiences.

Dating from 1819, the Theatre Royal is the only surviving fully operational Regency Theatre in the UK. In September 2005 a £5.3million restoration project was launched to restore the building to its original 1819 configuration and decorative scheme.

In addition to the restoration of the building, the Theatre's artistic team researched and re-discovered many of the lost texts of the Georgian repertoire with the aim of producing these plays in the restored Theatre for modern audiences to enjoy. The Theatre re-opened on 11 September 2007 with a production of the 1829 nautical melodrama, 'Black Eyed Susan', written by Douglas Jerrold.

Under the banner of Restoring the Repertoire™, these plays were performed to critical acclaim at the Theatre and we are now able to bring you a series of these versions: fully restored, 'road tested' through a professional production, and ready for further productions in educational, amateur or professional venues.

The available titles are ...

	He's Much To Blame by Thomas Holcroft Principals : 4m, 3f     Support : 2m, 1f, 1m/f Outside London, a young woman named Maria is looking for her long lost love. Staying in a bizarre hotel she encounters all stations of Georgian society, romantic rivals and dangerous enemies, as her search descends into a whirlwind story of disguises, hidden secrets, ancient grudges and current fancies. We are offered a cartoon-like glimpse of the great and grotesque of Georgian England - seeing fashion-mongers, time-servers, flatterers, the obscenely wealthy, the working poor, deceivers, idealists and even quack doctors.
	The Massacre by Elizabeth Inchbald Principals : 6m, 2f     Support : 1f, 3/m/f Riots have led to a bloody genocide in the metropolis; the violence is quickly spilling beyond the city walls and engulfing the provinces. Trapped inside their home, one rural family must decide what action to take: to fight, to flee or to throw themselves on the mercy of their aggressors. Their debate and consequences of their actions are a thought provoking insight into the nature of human violence and mob mentality: what choices do we really have when, on both sides, fear and hatred have taken hold?
	Wives as they Were, and Maids as they Are by Elizabeth Inchbald Principals : 5m, 3f    Support : 2m, 2m/f Miss Maria Dorillon is an intelligent and independent-minded young woman continually criticised and repressed by her fusty male guardians. Although virtuous, loyal and caring, she is constantly tempted by the high life of 18th century London and suffers from gambling problems and debt. Throughout the play we follow her journey to find her place in society: to either reconcile herself to old ways, or to modern fashion. Should she be a ‘wife of former times’ or a ‘maid of the present day’?