Octagon Theatre Bolton, Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough and Theatre by the Lake in Keswick have announced the cast for Zoe Cooper's adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.
Tessa Walker (Ravenscourt and Big, Big, Sky, Hampstead Theatre, Run, Rebel Pilot Theatre, tour) will direct Rebecca Banatvala (Sap, Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Soho Theatre, UK Tour, Much Ado About Nothing, RSC) playing Cath, AK Golding (Twelfth Night, Nottingham Playhouse, The Messiah Complex, VAULT Festival) as Iz and Sam Newton (A Woman Walks into a Bank, Theatre503, Good Day, VAULT Festival) as Hen.
Catherine Morland knows little of the world, but who needs real-life experience when you have novels to guide you? Catherine seizes her chance to escape her claustrophobic family and join the smart set in Bath. Between balls and parties, she meets worldly, sophisticated Isabella Thorpe—Iz, to her friends—and so Cath’s very own adventure begins.
Playwright Zoe Cooper said, “Northanger Abbey is a novel about friendship, love, romance and fantasy and how those things collide. What struck me on my first reading as a queer nineteen-year-old was that the central romantic relationship, one filled with lust, anger and betrayal, is between the romantic heroine and her best friend, Isabella. It is that version of the book I wanted to explore in this reimagining.”
Northanger Abbey is at the Orange Tree – Octagon 1–23 March and Theatre by the Lake –