All About Austen: Stage Adaptations of Jane Austen Classics

250 years after her birth, Jane Austen continues to delight and entertain people all over the globe. Austen’s characters have become staples of the literary, cinematic and theatrical worlds, providing rich fodder for artists with their quick wit, charm and deep humanity. Whether you’re enamored with Lizzy and Darcy or prefer the dynamics of Emma and Knightly, this varied list of stage adaptations is guaranteed to include your favorite Austen work.

Austen Stage Adaptations

Emma

Emma by Michael Bloom and Jane Austen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6w, 6m)
Michael Bloom presents a highly theatrical adaptation of one of Jane Austen’s greatest novels. Pledging never to marry, the mischievous Emma Woodhouse is nevertheless the “matchmaker of Highbury.” Through a series of mishaps, Emma comes to realize the things and people she truly values.

Lady Susan

Jane Austen’s Lady Susan by Rob Urbinati and Jane Austen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4w, 3m)
Jane Austen’s comic novella – about a young widow’s brilliant scheming in turn-of-the-19th-century English society – comes to life in Rob Urbinati’s delightfully witty stage adaptation.

Mansfield Park

Mansfield Park (Cox) by Constance Cox and Jane Austen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 6w, 5m)
This comedy in three acts, first presented in 1977, captures the humor of Austen’s subtle satire through witty dialogue and colorful characterizations.

Mansfield Park (Hall) by Willis Hall and Jane Austen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 9w, 11m)
As a timid nine-year-old, Fanny Price is taken to live with her affluent cousins, the Bertrams, at Mansfield Park. Despite suffering many hardships as the poor relation, gentle and good-natured Fanny becomes an indispensable member of the household and marries her true love, Edmund. This skillful dramatization incorporates the tantalizing plot and rich characterizations that made the novel a classic.

Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey by Matthew Francis (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 7 any gender)
Matthew Francis’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s first novel wryly dramatizes Catherine Morland’s romantic fantasy world alongside the real one, capturing all of Austen’s irony and acerbic comment through witty dialogue and narration.

Persuasion

Persuasion (James) by Jeff James (UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4m, 5w, 1 boy)
Sparklingly intelligent and very funny, this bold and contemporary new adaptation brings all the sharp observation and quick wit of Austen’s novel to the stage, without a bonnet in sight.

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice (Davies) by Andrew Davies and Jane Austen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 13w , 5m)
Adapted from Andrew Davies’ hit 1995 BBC TV series, this delightful comedy of manners revolves around the tumultuous relationship between Elizabeth Bennet, the lively and mischievous daughter of a gentleman from the country, and Darcy, a wealthy and proud lord.

Pride and Prejudice (Jerome) by Helen Jerome and Jane Austen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 16w, 10m)
A great success in New York and London. Mrs. Bennett is determined to get her daughters married. Jane, Elizabeth, and Lydia are likely-looking girls in a period when a woman’s one possible career is matrimony.

Pride and Prejudice (Pascoe) by Sara Pascoe and Jane Austen (UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6w, 4m)
The Bennet family has more daughters than income and more income than sense. When an eligible bachelor moves to the neighborhood, Mrs. Bennet froths over with frenzied attempts to get her daughters married at any cost – well, not cost, as they haven’t any money, but no man is too rude, no soldier too untrustworthy, no cousin too annoying to be below consideration. Whom will the handsome Wickham seduce next? How will the Bennet sisters live with no income or home after their father dies? Will anyone ever mention there’s a war on?

Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility by Jen Taylor and Jane Austen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 8w, 6m)
In this vivid new adaptation of Jane Austen’s first published novel, the Dashwood sisters’ happy lives are dramatically changed in the wake of their father’s death. Both hard lessons and gentle guidance help them learn that happiness in love is an unpredictable struggle against the most important social values: family, honor and wealth. Luckily, with Jane Austen, love wins.

Sense and Sensibility (Graham/Parsley) by Andy Graham, Roger Parsley and Jane Austen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3w, 2m, 2 any gender)
Roger Parsley and Andy Graham have streamlined the well-loved Jane Austen novel and produced a fast-moving, easily staged adaptation that retains all the delicate irony, spirit and romance of the original.

Sense and Sensibility (Swale) by Jessica Swale and Jane Austen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 5w, 4m)
Eminently sensible Elinor pines for quiet, kindhearted Edward Ferrars, but the impulsive Marianne loses herself in the idea of her hero on horseback, and for a girl who feasts on poetry and music, what else is there to do in Devon but dream of rescue?

Sense and Sensibility (Whipday) by Emma Whipday, Brian McMahon and Jane Austen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 5w, 5m)
Sisters Marianne (a hopeless romantic) and Elinor (a stoic realist) experience the pitfalls of society, the generosity of new friends, and the passion of unexpected love in this funny and poignant adaptation of Jane Austen’s exquisite early work.

Plays Inspired by Austen

A Person of No Consequence by Margaret Wood (UK)
(Short Play, Drama / 8w)
Life does not hold out much pleasure for either Elizabeth or Elinor: Elizabeth in love with a man of whom her overbearing mother does not approve, Elinor in love with the man Mrs. Hartley is determined Elizabeth shall marry. Coincidentally, with a social visit by the awesome Lady Charlotte, however, the prospects of both girls are made much brighter – through the machinations of the quiet Miss Jane, who is dismissed as “a person of no consequence” by Lady Charlotte when she is told her surname: Austen.

Lizzy, Darcy and Jane by Joanna Norland (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5m, 7w)
Jane Austen pits her wit and will against her greatest adversary and ally, Elizabeth Bennet. Heady with her first taste of love, Jane creates Elizabeth, with Mr. Darcy taking on the role of her arch enemy and reluctant admirer. But when her actual romance sours, she sentences Elizabeth to marry the odious Mr. Collins and herself to an equally disastrous marriage. The fates of the author, the novel and its heroine are at stake. Elizabeth Bennet must take action.

The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged by Jessica Bedford, Kathryn MacMillan, Charlotte Northeast, and Meghan Winch (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2w, 1m)
In this fast-paced romp, three actors take on all of Austen’s beloved heroines, friends and love interests – and her incisive social satire – in just 80 minutes. But when they lose a cast member, the two remaining Janeites must teach an understudy about her work.

The Last of Jane Austen by Shirl Hendryx (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5w, 6m)
Two elderly, usually quite proper sisters in a small Midwestern town inexplicably have developed a passion for watching boxing on television. When a shabby transient shows up at their door looking for odd jobs, they spot a photo of him in boxing trunks and excitedly invite him to stay for dinner. Throwing caution to the wind, the sisters decide to get him back into fighting trim. Is he who they think he is, or is he a glib opportunist reveling in the attentions of two old ladies? Will he demolish their dream or provide them with a satisfying adventure in their waning years?

Murder with Grace by Leon Kaye (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 5w, 5m)

In this delightful work inspired by the style of Jane Austen, two young women plot to kill an insufferable girl who hopes to marry into the family. Set in the early 19th century, Murder with Grace tells the story of Grace, who is horrified when her brother is betrothed to Naomi, a shallow, silly girl whom Grace cannot stand to be around. A dark comedy that will have even the most stoic of audiences in giggles.

The Watsons by Laura Wade (UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 9w, 10m)
Emma Watson is nineteen and new in town. She’s been cut off by her rich aunt and dumped back in the family home. Emma and her sisters must marry, fast. If not, they face poverty, spinsterhood or worse, an eternity with their boorish brother and his awful wife. Luckily, there are plenty of potential suitors to dance with, from flirtatious Tom Musgrave to castle-owning Lord Osborne, who’s as awkward as he is rich. So far, so familiar. But there’s a problem: Jane Austen didn’t finish the story.

Craving literary theatrical inspiration beyond Jane Austen? For more plays and musicals inspired by literature of all kinds, visit Concord Theatricals in the US or UK.