Northanger Abbey

Synopsis

Amidst the fashionable society of 18th Century Bath, our heroine Catherine Morland meets Mr Henry Tilney at a Ball in the famous Pump Room, and instantly falls in love with the dashing young man. On being invited to his family home, the somewhat sinister Northanger Abbey, Catherine, already a dedicated romantic believes herself caught up in a mysterious and dangerous situation

Our Review:

2 June 2010

Jane Austen completed Northanger Abbey when she was not long out of her teens, and at its heart is an inexperienced heroine whose imagination is utterly dominated by the Gothic novels she reads. Catherine Morland makes her first trip to Bath obsessed with wicked aristocrats, mysterious disappearances, hidden passages, and dark secrets - in other words, quite unprepared to enter the real world as Austen sees it.

Northanger Abbey tells the story of her romantic progress from wide-eyed adolescent to bride of sensible clergyman Henry Tilney. The turning point in this story is her stay at the Tilneys’ home, where she learns some painful lessons about what the world is really like.

Tim Luscombe’s adaptation of the novel cleverly makes the most of the contrast between Gothic melodrama and the rather more civilised perils of entering society and finding a husband by switching be...

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Latest User Review

J Austen - 11 July 2010:

I found the performance of Catherine very hammy and painful to watch. I don't know what the director was thinking, have they never heard that less is more? Unfortunately this spoiled my enjoyment of the play as generally the other actors were good. I would recommend the ITV film version from a few years ago. Obviously this is a subjective opinion! ...

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