Northanger Abbey

'Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of any sort of… disappointed love.'

Catherine Morland knows little of the world, but who needs real-life experience when you have novels to guide you? Seizing her chance to escape her claustrophobic family and join the smart set in Bath, she meets worldly, sophisticated Isabella Thorpe – Iz, to her friends – and so Cath's very own adventure begins.

This playful and surprising reimagining of Northanger Abbey is infused with the spirit of Jane Austen's original novel and fizzes with imagination and humour. It was premiered in 2024 at the Orange Tree Theatre, London, before touring to Octagon Theatre, Bolton, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, and Theatre by the Lake, Keswick.



Zoe Cooper's other plays include Out of Water, which was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and Jess and Joe Forever, which won her the Most Promising Playwright Award at the OffWestEnd Awards.



'A smartly playful adaptation that pulses with real passions... it asks big, clever questions about personal agency, authorship and control... Austen would thoroughly approve'



'Moves at a tremendous clip... the wooing is done with such subtlety and good humour'



'An incisive adaptation that approaches the tale from a fresh, contemporary angle... exuberantly, unashamedly silly... Quick-fire scenes jump about in time, skilfully picking apart the narrative with flashbacks that offer new context, or cutting away to asides where the characters debate their real intentions... an appealing, intriguingly flawed protagonist... unexpected and intriguing'



'A spirited three-hander romp... it's exhilarating, transmuting Austen's daftest novel into something really quite beautiful'



'A very modern, knowing take, clearly powered by love for the original tale'



'A playfully daring take on Jane Austen's original novel - and it works... There are lovely meta moments [with a] tight, witty script... and Cooper brilliantly transforms the conventional ending... it's all fantastic fun'



'Very entertaining... engaging and imaginative'



'A vivaciously queer take on Jane Austen that will make readers and audiences think twice'



'A three-hander lark, with much nifty work with hats and coats, parents and relatives mischievously cross-cast, and a bittersweet take on happy ever after'



'Clever, funny and seriously silly... The laughs don't stop... brilliant small-scale theatre'



'Playful, witty and laced with innuendo'