Northanger Abbey - from Fantasy to Reality

A few weeks ago, we had a chat with the cast members of Northanger Abbey to find out more on Jane Austen's sparkling satire of the gothic horror novel and to ask what drew them to this wonderful period drama play adapted by Tim Luscombe.

📸 Photography by Alastair Barnsley.

So, what is Northanger Abbey all about?

Jake: Essentially, it’s about a young girl (Catherine Morland) who’s lived with her head in books all her life and hasn’t interacted with the wider society. It’s her first time coming to Bath, to this setting, and she makes a few slip-ups along the way. She’s naïve. She gets involved with the wrong people, and allows herself to be manipulated thinking that everyone’s got pure intentions. Even though she soon finds out they don’t. But along the way she comes to find comfort outside of her books as well as inside, and later realises that life isn’t like a book.

Amy: It’s a journey of going from fantasy to reality. So, the play starts from a fantasy setting and then you go into reality, and it’s Catherine realising that life isn’t the fantasy she reads in her books.

Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland (played by Andy and Kerry)

Sean: It's a satire on the gothic novels which were the popular things of the day, and that's why Catherine is obsessed with the idea of going to Northanger Abbey because she imagines it as this gothic castle in the Mysteries of Udolpho novel that she's reading. And we have a play within a play because she's reading bits from the novel and we see those bits enacted. So, all of us who are characters in the Northanger Abbey play are also characters in the Udolpho story.

Becky: It's about a young girl's introduction into polite society and that life may be just as dramatic as a book, but not in the same way.

Jane: I think Northanger Abbey's got a bit of all sorts really. It's a period drama. There's comedy, music and dancing. Everything but singing!

Sandy: It's really about the juxtaposition between reality and romantic fantasy. Gothic novels were incredibly popular as a form of escapism in Jane Austen's time, but because of the extremes that they represented they were salacious really, because you could have abductions of young women and perils of the flesh without actually having to experience them. And so they're very easy to therefore make fun of, to take it that little bit too far to make it hilariously funny. So, it's Jane Austen poking fun at what was fashionable at the time.

What drew you to the play?

Amy: I’ve always been a massive fan of Jane Austen, but this play wasn’t one I knew much about. Isabella really shone for me because she’s just mad. I think she’s such a funny character and has got some strange ideals.

Isabella and John Thorpe (played by Amy and Jake)

Jake: Having read through the play and looking at it as something to go for, I was really drawn to the character of John just because he was such a square peg in a round hole. He stood out and he has a lot of funny moments just from being himself. He’s not trying to be funny half of the time. It’s just how ignorant he is, and how boisterous and self-centered. He doesn’t pay attention to the world around him. He doesn’t observe the manners that everyone else does. He's in his own bubble.

Amy: Yeah, the Thorpes have their own bubble and nobody else matters!

Frederick, the General, Eleanor and Henry

(played by Tyler, Sean, Becky and Andy)

Tyler: I like the fact that both of my characters (Frederick Tilney and James Morland) go for the same girl and they're both very different. I like that challenge because I have to not just change clothes but completely change posture and my accent as well. One's from mid-class and the other one's from a higher class. So, it's interesting and that's what I like about it.

Sean: It's about the manners and sensibilities of the time, and the General (who I'm playing) very much represents the patriarchy. 'This is how we do things. We don't marry below our stations. Things need to be done primly and properly.' And that's what he stands up for. So, it's Jane Austen's view of the manners of the time and the way things are done, and so the idea of representing the patriarchy appealed to me.

Mrs Morland and Mrs Allen (played by Sandy and Jane)

Jane: I like watching period dramas, but I've never been in one myself. So, I thought it would be a new experience for me and I'm looking forward to it.

Sandy: Well, I love Jane Austen. It's very hard to adapt a novel for the stage and I thought Tim Luscombe had done a really good job of doing it. He kept the fun, the liveliness of Bath, and the characters are interesting and funny. Everybody likes romance, don't they? Boy gets girl after trials and tribulations. It's a really lovely story and that's what I enjoyed about it.

Kerry: I love period dramas, I love Jane Austen, and I really liked the character of Catherine.

Andy: My wife (Kerry) drew me to the play. She said: 'I'd like to take part in this play. What about you?' and so I had a flick through the play and I thought 'Yeah. Okay, I'll get involved.' I haven't read any Austen. I didn't know the play or the book or the film, but I quite liked the character of Henry.

Becky: Jane Austen in general and all of her books is something me and my family really bond over, especially my mom and my sister. So, when Liz (our director) approached me, I was very much like 'Yes, please!' I don't care how I'm involved. I would just like to be involved.

Isabella Thorpe and James Morland (played by Amy and Tyler)

Northanger Abbey runs at Highbury Theatre from 7 - 18 June 2022. Tickets are available online or from the Theatre Box Office.