Orange Tree Theatre (OT) with co-producers Octagon Theatre Bolton, Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough and Theatre by the Lake Keswick today announces the full cast for Zoe Cooper’s playful reimagining of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.
Tessa Walker directs Rebecca Banatvala (Cath), AK Golding (Iz) and Sam Newton (Hen).
Zoe Cooper returns to the OT following the hit premières of Jess and Joe Forever and Out of Water with her new play Northanger Abbey, inspired by Jane Austen’s novel. Northanger Abbey opens at the OT on 24 January and runs until 24 February, with previews from 20 January. The production will then tour to Octagon Theatre Bolton from 1 – 23 March, Stephen Joseph Theatre from 27 March – 13 April and Theatre by the Lake from 27 April – 17 May 2024 and will be available on OT On Screen from 21 to 24 May 2024.
Playwright Zoe Cooper said today, “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.”
Director Tessa Walker added, “I am delighted to be working on Zoe’s vivid, funny, and inventive re-imagining of Austen’s classic with this fantastic cast. It’s a wonderful, playful tale of romance, gothic adventures, growing up, and the importance of stories and who gets to tell them.”
Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of any sort of … disappointed love
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.
