A Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds production in association with Anvil Arts
Wives as they Were, and Maids as they Are
by Elizabeth Inchbald
The Haymarket
Sat 27 September 2008, 7pm
directed by Colin Blumenau
designed by Kit Surrey
Dangerous flirtation and reckless spending whirl a young woman towards disaster in a Regency London full of predatory bachelors and jealous husbands. A wry comedy of manners from the writer of Lovers' Vows, the play which shocked Jane Austen’s characters in Mansfield Park.
First performed in 1797, this delightful comedy from one of the most remarkable woman writers of the time encapsulates some of the best aspects of Georgian drama: strong social critique in an age of decadence, and razor-sharp observational dialogue. Elizabeth Inchbald’s works are as entertaining today as they were two hundred years ago.
