A captivating BBC radio dramatisation of Jane Austen's most overlooked novel
Sent away from her poverty-stricken parents in Portsmouth to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, nine-year-old Fanny Price is abruptly transplanted to a new, luxurious home: Mansfield Park. Overwhelmed by the grandeur of her surroundings, she feels out of place - and as she grows up, her spoiled cousins, Tom, Maria and Julia, never let her forget her humble beginnings. Only her cousin Edmund treats her with kindness, and the two become close companions.
But their lives are turned upside down when Sir Thomas goes away to visit his sugar plantation in the West Indies - and the charismatic Crawfords, Henry and Mary, arrive on the scene. Glamorous, attractive and flirtatious, they shake up the entire Bertram family - and leave Fanny grappling with emotions she's never felt before...
In Mansfield Park, Jane Austen gives us her subtlest and most unusual heroine: a displaced child, shaped by family and adversity, who becomes a quietly resolute young woman with an unshakeable moral code. This enthralling dramatisation focusses on the precariousness of Fanny's life - as a poor relation, unmarried, and living on an estate funded by sugar and slavery - and follows her as she navigates this high-stakes world with courage and conviction.
Production credits
Written by Jane Austen
Adapted by Clara Glynn
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane
Directed by Bruce Young
Fanny Price - Lydia Wilson
Edmund Bertram - Bryan Dick
Mary Crawford - Tala Gouveia
Henry Crawford - Tom Mothersdale
Mrs Norris/Mrs Grant - Janice Acquah
Lady Bertram - Madeleine Worrall
Tom Bertram/William Price - Joshua Riley
Sir Thomas - John Hollingworth
Mr Rushworth- Samuel Valentine
Maria Bertram - Faith Alabi
Julia Bertram - Hollie Burgess
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 10-17 July 2022
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