Northanger Abbey- Octagon, Bolton

Writer: Jane Austen

Adaptor:  Zoe Cooper 

Director: Tessa Walker

With Northanger Abbey Octagon, Bolton, continues the approach used so successfully with Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense whereby a small number of actors take on many roles. Yet the sparse cast is not the most audacious aspect of the production.

Staff at Octagon, Bolton, help to set the mood for a giddy romp through Jane Austen’s classic text wearing bonnets as they greet patrons. Raised in a far from affluent family with no sisters Catherine Morland (Rebecca Banatvala) is inevitably a tomboy and directs her siblings in games which she invents. As she matures Catherine shows little interest in what are considered appropriate duties for a woman preferring to escape into sensational Gothic novels. She jumps at the chance to visit the urban city Bath (she finds herself longing for balls – the first of several innuendos in a script which, while radical, is never dull) with her slightly more prosperous neighbours and encounters two people who will shape her life. Henry Tilney (Sam Newton), heir to the Gothic estate Northanger Abbey and the sophisticated Isabella Thorpe (AK Golding).

Zoe Cooper’s script makes great demands upon the cast and audience. The characters, referred to by the abbreviated nicknames Cath, Iz and Hen, may be recollecting events or enacting scenes from a novel which Catherine has written. Consequently, the cast jump from dialogue to reported speech at a moments’ notice. Adapting a novel to the stage inevitably results in events being reduced or removed and it is not until the second act that the script gets around to poking fun at the excesses of Gothic novels or highlighting the impact of Catherine’s over-active imagination.

The most radical innovation in the script is that the cynical attitude towards marriage shown by Isabella Thorpe is not due to a calculating nature but rather an awareness she is gay and, accordingly, wishes to acquire a husband who is wealthy and disinterested. Catherine is still exploring her sexuality and is attracted by Isabella’s apparent freedom from conventional restraints as much as physically. Ironically, Catherine’s innocent suggestion if she and Isabella married each other’s brothers they would have an excuse for staying in regular contact could be perceived as a come-on.

The unusual interest Henry Tilney takes in selecting material for his sister’s clothing could be a hint he too is gay. The gay subtext does not end with the characters. Hannah Sibai’s set is a deep pink and gender fluidity arises when the actors play different characters- Newton tends to play female and Golding male.

The play opens with young Catherine bossing her brothers around as they enact scenes from her imagination. Director Tessa Walker adopts this tone for the play which, with the cast switching characters, rapidly changing costumes and utilising makeshift props, often resembles children at play. Walker, however, takes a starry-eyed approach to romance as the chandeliers hanging over the stage dance up and down in response to the courtship between Catherine and Isabella. Walker is willing to poke fun at the ritualised elements of romance with some outrageous ‘formal’ dancing.

Rebecca Banatvala takes an indominable approach to Catherine making her something of a right little madam. Banatvala stomps onstage before the lights go down for act two impatient to make progress. Catherine is not an entirely admirable character, although she shows suitable outrage her constantly pregnant mother is regarded as a broodmare, she declines to offer any practical help. Whereas the character of Isabella in the source novel is coldly calculating AK Golding brings a dignified sense of wounded isolation- someone who has come to accept her life is likely to be lonely.

Northanger Abbey may be too ambitious for its own good but remains a startling and absorbing approach to a classic text.

Runs until 23rd March 2024