First look production images have been released for Jeff James and James Yeatman’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, which opens tonight, Thursday 3 March, at Rose Theatre, Kingston and runs until 19 March.
This production will then run at Alexandra Palace from 7 to 30 April 2022, followed by Oxford Playhouse from 4 to 14 May 2022. This is a Rose Original and Alexandra Palace production in association with Oxford Playhouse.
Starring Sasha Frost as Anne Elliot and Fred Fergus as Captain Wentworth with Matilda Bailes as Elizabeth/Lousia, Grace Cookey-Gam as Lady Russell/Mrs Croft, Helen Cripps as Mary, Adam Deary as Edmund Hayter/ Captain Benwick/Mr Elliot, Emilio Doorgasingh as Sir Walter/Admiral Croft, Caroline Moroney as Mrs Clay/Henrietta and Dorian Simpson as Charles.
Featuring a soundtrack of Frank Ocean, Dua Lipa, Cardi B and more, Jane Austen’s classic romantic comedy is riotously reimagined for the twenty-first century. In this captivating adaptation, Jeff James and James Yeatman retain the quick wit and scandal of Austen’s novel but switch Regency ballrooms for neon lights to present this 19th-century romance as you’ve never seen it before.
Persuasion is directed by Jeff James, with design by Alex Lowde, lighting design by Lucy Carter, music and sound design by Ben & Max Ringham, movement by Morgann Runacre-Temple and dramaturgy by James Yeatman. The assistant director is Layla Madanat, the recipient of Rose Theatre’s 2021 Peter Hall Emerging Artists Fellowship.