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Union Theatre, London,
March 2-6,
Cast: Michael Davies, Sonya Namik, Samantha Nixon, Tim Nixon, Amy Scarlett, Sarah Wenban,
Director: Jodyanne Richardson,
Producer: Larius Productions,
Running time: Two hours and 15 minutes, including interval.
“Lady Susan” is either the culmination of Jane Austen’s youthful experiments with epistolary novels and the narration of society scandals or the beginning of her mature phase of subtle characterisation and the establishment of her distinctive voice, depending on your viewpoint.
The novel is aligned with Austen’s great works in its focus on a woman’s need to marry to avoid poverty and in that it ultimately rewards youthful virtue with a husband and a stately home.
But it belongs to the early work in that a scheming flirt, the eponymous Lady Susan, takes centre stage for most of the action. Austen is known as a lover of theatre and Lady Susan has appeal as innately dramatic. She is in a constant state of performance, desperately acting to try to rescue her reputation as her stratagems unravel. Combined with the relative weakness of the novel and the artistic tenet that good books make bad adaptations and vice versa, she has tempted many stage directors.
With the caveat that the performance I saw was a preview, director Jodyanne Richardson’s production would benefit from tightening (it spilled over its advertised 100 minutes running time) and pace. The show delivers gentle comedy and the smiling Samantha Nixon as Catherine Vernon conveyed excruciating hypocrisy.
It did not, however, realise its potential for an hilarious build-up as the possibility emerges that Sonya Namik, as Lady Susan, the most accomplished coquette in England, is brazen enough to attempt to seduce the object of her affections Reginald De Courcy, played by with suitable irony by Oliver Wills, all over again.
For me the topicality of Lady Susan’s pursuit of personal gain and love of games regardless of their victims could also be laid bare. Her strategic lying and unreliable narratives have high-level parallels in our own times.
Lady Susan,
Union Theatre, London,
March 2-6,
Cast: Michael Davies, Sonya Namik, Samantha Nixon, Tim Nixon, Amy Scarlett, Sarah Wenban,
Director: Jodyanne Richardson,
Producer: Larius Productions,
Running time: Two hours and 15 minutes, including interval.
“Lady Susan” is either the culmination of Jane Austen’s youthful experiments with epistolary novels and the narration of society scandals or the beginning of her mature phase of subtle characterisation and the establishment of her distinctive voice, depending on your viewpoint.
The novel is aligned with Austen’s great works in its focus on a woman’s need to marry to avoid poverty and in that it ultimately rewards youthful virtue with a husband and a stately home.
But it belongs to the early work in that a scheming flirt, the eponymous Lady Susan, takes centre stage for most of the action. Austen is known as a lover of theatre and Lady Susan has appeal as innately dramatic. She is in a constant state of performance, desperately acting to try to rescue her reputation as her stratagems unravel. Combined with the relative weakness of the novel and the artistic tenet that good books make bad adaptations and vice versa, she has tempted many stage directors.
With the caveat that the performance I saw was a preview, director Jodyanne Richardson’s production would benefit from tightening (it spilled over its advertised 100 minutes running time) and pace. The show delivers gentle comedy and the smiling Samantha Nixon as Catherine Vernon conveyed excruciating hypocrisy.
It did not, however, realise its potential for an hilarious build-up as the possibility emerges that Sonya Namik, as Lady Susan, the most accomplished coquette in England, is brazen enough to attempt to seduce the object of her affections Reginald De Courcy, played by with suitable irony by Oliver Wills, all over again.
For me the topicality of Lady Susan’s pursuit of personal gain and love of games regardless of their victims could also be laid bare. Her strategic lying and unreliable narratives have high-level parallels in our own times.
Barbara Lewis © 2026.
By Barbara Lewis • added recently on London Grip, authors, plays, theatre • Tags: authors, Barbara Lewis, plays, theatre