PERSUASION
by Jane Austenadapted by Jeff James, with James Yeatman
Manchester Royal Exchange 2017
Director Jeff James
Set and Costume Design Alex Lowde
Light Lucy Carter
Sound Ben and Max Ringham
Dramaturg James Yeatman
Movement director Morgann Runacre-Temple
Casting Jerry Knight-Smith and Vicky Richardson
Assistant Director Helen Abbott
Production Photographs Johan Persson
Geraldine Alexander
Antony Bunsee
Samuel Edward-Cook
Helen Cripps
Cassie Layton
Caroline Maroney
Lara Rossi
Dorian Simpson
Arthur Wilson
Script published by Samuel French
With thanks to the Young Vic Directors Program for a workshop at an early stage in the development of Persuasion.
The Times Sam Marlowe
★★★★
No bonnets or breeches, no tinkling teacups, no flounces or fuss: this literary adaptation busts open the bodice of the original, thrillingly liberating its subversive spirit. Jeff James and James Yeatman’s radical take on Jane Austen’s final completed novel is sparklingly intelligent and very funny...
When resolution arrives, it’s joltingly powerful — hard-won, clear-sighted, with Anne and Wentworth facing a future as equals and without guarantees. This is a fantastically satisfying interpretation of the novel, the more brilliantly illuminating for its audacity. I suspect Austen would have loved it.