Circa 1789, Jane Austen penned the worst play ever written. In fact, she wrote two, in a race to the bottom: The Mystery and The Visit. To say the plots are thin would be laughable: they are rather thicker than congealed custard. Characters appear, utter one non-sequitur, and vanish again, act without explanation, and contradict themselves and each other, and marriages are knit up in a matter of moments. But, if one can accept—or even embrace—plotting so nonsensical as to make a dramaturg weep, one begins to see how richly drawn even these early characters are, how unique their voices, how sharp their jokes—well, most of the time! A particularly delicious scene features A Secret whispered behind fans, concealing a sensational piece of gossip from the audience even as the characters chortle, panic, and delight about the news they have just received. It’s a marvelous theatrical conceit, and it works wonders in practice.
Jane Austen is of course one of the finest authors of the English language. A few years after authoring these semi-disastrous dramatics, she would find her stride with novels, beginning in the epistolary form with works including Lady Susan; the theatre, though she loved it, was simply not her medium, certainly not in her Juvenilia period. But if you’ve ever wondered what Austen’s later theatrical works might have been, had she lived to once again explore that medium, you’re in the right place.
Of Miss Martin’s exceptional canon of Austen stage adaptations, her Lady Susan is situated closest to a pastiche of the plays Austen was reading, attending, and privately performing in as a means of familial entertainment. When not writing, directing, and even starring in her sweeping, romantic, deeply politically engaged adaptations of classical literature and original period pieces, Miss Martin’s other area of expertise is the theatre of the English Restoration and the 18th century beyond, bringing to life through extensive scholarship and practical performance experience these gems that so often go undiscovered by the general public.
Lady Susan lives happily amongst Miss Martin’s favorites, authored by Austen’s near contemporaries, such as The Belle’s Stratagem by Hannah Cowley (1780) and The School For Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1777), the latter of which provides our documented evidence of Jane Austen’s amateur actress status; she portrayed the delectable Mrs. Candour in a parlor production of the piece. And of course, if you haven’t already, you’d best hurry to get your tickets for the Tavern’s Pride and Prejudice, featuring several of the extraordinary performers you’ll see tonight.
In 2020, Claire F. Martin penned the best play ever written, an adaptation of Tolstoy’s War and Peace which looked a sprawling epic in the eye and dressed it down to an accessible, natural, and deeply poignant work that spoke not only to the troubled source material but to the troubled moment. A few months later, she did it again. And then again. And again. Because, like Jane Austen, Miss Martin knows that the best story is the next one, that the work is never truly over, and that there are so many delightful discoveries to be made when we look backwards and forwards, and most importantly, within ourselves. Thank you for supporting new work at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse, and please enjoy Claire F. Martin’s Lady Susan.
—Claire Wittman
Production Dramaturg
Jane Austen is of course one of the finest authors of the English language. A few years after authoring these semi-disastrous dramatics, she would find her stride with novels, beginning in the epistolary form with works including Lady Susan; the theatre, though she loved it, was simply not her medium, certainly not in her Juvenilia period. But if you’ve ever wondered what Austen’s later theatrical works might have been, had she lived to once again explore that medium, you’re in the right place.
Of Miss Martin’s exceptional canon of Austen stage adaptations, her Lady Susan is situated closest to a pastiche of the plays Austen was reading, attending, and privately performing in as a means of familial entertainment. When not writing, directing, and even starring in her sweeping, romantic, deeply politically engaged adaptations of classical literature and original period pieces, Miss Martin’s other area of expertise is the theatre of the English Restoration and the 18th century beyond, bringing to life through extensive scholarship and practical performance experience these gems that so often go undiscovered by the general public.
Lady Susan lives happily amongst Miss Martin’s favorites, authored by Austen’s near contemporaries, such as The Belle’s Stratagem by Hannah Cowley (1780) and The School For Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1777), the latter of which provides our documented evidence of Jane Austen’s amateur actress status; she portrayed the delectable Mrs. Candour in a parlor production of the piece. And of course, if you haven’t already, you’d best hurry to get your tickets for the Tavern’s Pride and Prejudice, featuring several of the extraordinary performers you’ll see tonight.
In 2020, Claire F. Martin penned the best play ever written, an adaptation of Tolstoy’s War and Peace which looked a sprawling epic in the eye and dressed it down to an accessible, natural, and deeply poignant work that spoke not only to the troubled source material but to the troubled moment. A few months later, she did it again. And then again. And again. Because, like Jane Austen, Miss Martin knows that the best story is the next one, that the work is never truly over, and that there are so many delightful discoveries to be made when we look backwards and forwards, and most importantly, within ourselves. Thank you for supporting new work at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse, and please enjoy Claire F. Martin’s Lady Susan.
—Claire Wittman
Production Dramaturg
