Overview
Mark Healy's faithful yet inventive
adaptations of Jane Austen's treasured novels are terrifically actable
and readable. This edition features Production Notes, making it easily
stageable too. When John Dashwood and his snobbish wife Fanny inherit his father's
estate, his stepmother, along with his half-sisters, are forced to leave
their home and live on a reduced income. Elinor bears the move with her
usual stoicism, even though it cuts short her growing friendship with
Fanny's brother, Edward Ferrars, while Marianne's grief seemingly knows
no bounds. Their new life, from the Devonshire countryside to London's high
society - peopled by their eccentric host Sir John Middleton, the
brooding Colonel Brandon, the dashing Willoughby and the simpering Lucy
Steele - is set to test the sisters' sense and sensibilities to the
limit. This adaptation of Sense and Sensibility was first staged at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter, in 2000.