PLAYING JANE AUSTEN: Parlour Plays

A glamorous British Library publication sub-titled 'Parlour Plays for Drawing-Room Performance', this tasteful literary publication includes a dialogue between Catherine Morland and Isabella Thorpe from Northanger Abbey, the settlement question duologue between Mr and Mrs John Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility, the reading of Jane Fairfax's letter duologue between Miss Bates and Emma from Emma, a strawberry picnic duologue between Mrs Elton and Mr Knightley from Emma, three loves duologues between Emma and Harriet and Emma and Mr Knightley from Emma, the proposal of Mr Collins exchange between Mrs Bennet, Elizabeth and Mr Collins from Pride and Prejudice and from the same classic novel Lady Catherine's visit duologue between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth Bennet. Read alone, aloud, in company or in front of an audience, for each playlet there is a suggestion of costumes like Mr Collins in black with a high choker and cravat tied in front, Elizabeth in pale primrose dress, the lapels of the bodice and the hem of the skirt embroidered in gold and white, clear muslin chemisette, wrapped undersleeves of the same. Pretty line art, the author was a progressive actor and director who died in 1930. A beautiful reprint, 138pp.