Duologues and Scenes from the Novels of Jane Austen

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. Rosina Filippi transforms Jane Austen's novels into a sparkling set of short duologues and scenes meant for amateur drawing-room performance, arguing that Austen's wit, vivid characters, and human comedy are already deeply dramatic. Her adaptation preserves the spirit of the originals while requiring little more than period costume and lively reading, and it draws seven scenes from Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Pride and Prejudice. Practical stage notes on Regency dress—fabrics, silhouettes, accessories, colors, and the differences between indoor and outdoor attire—underscore the importance of historical accuracy and help set the theatrical tone. The scenes themselves capture Austen at her sharpest: Catherine Morland and Isabella Thorpe gushing over gothic novels and fashionable friendship in Bath, then revealing the contrast between Catherine's innocence and Isabella's calculated flirtation; the Dashwood household's polite but ruthless negotiations over money and duty; and Emma's comic social world, where Miss Bates's anxious chatter, Mrs. Elton's vanity, and Mr. Knightley's dry restraint expose the absurdities of manners, status, and self-importance. Throughout, Filippi turns Austen's famous conversations into concise, playable comedy.