Ryan McBryde directs Nick Perry’s lively and rambunctious new play Moll Flanders loosely based on the novel by Daniel Defoe, in a mashup of 18th Century bawdiness and 21st Century humour.
Despite the runaway success of his novel Robinson Crusoe, the author Daniel Defoe is up to his ears in debt and desperate to write another blockbuster. When he falls into bed with the notorious courtesan Elizabeth Atkins, raised in Colchester, the stories she tells him about her action-packed life give him a great idea. He’ll turn them into a novel called Moll Flanders and it’ll fly off the shelves. But he hadn’t bargained on becoming entangled in Elizabeth’s tumultuous intrigues and adventures himself, or falling in love with her…
This unfaithful adaptation features an incredibly versatile cast of actor-musicians including Eva-Jane Willis as Moll Flanders and Bill Champion as Daniel Defoe. The ensemble also features Dan Bottomley, Victoria Hamnett, Hanna Khogali, Peter Manchester, Mark Peachey, Alan Vicary and Annie Wensak.
Ryan McBryde said: “I’m delighted to be directing Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders for the Mercury this autumn. Nick Perry’s wonderfully irreverent adaptation has captured the heart of the original book but has also given it a mischievously modern makeover in the spirit of Blackadder. Our heroine Moll has to employ all of her drive, resourcefulness, resilience, ambition, wit and insightfulness to survive in a man’s world. It’s a ribald, riotous romp through 18th century England and Virginia and I can’t wait to get started!”
Moll Flanders is a Made in Colchester production, presented by arrangement with The Touring Consortium Theatre Company.
