Duologues and scenes from the novels of Jane Austen: Arranged and adapted for drawing-room performance

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"Duologues and scenes from the novels of Jane Austen" by Filippi and Austen is a collection of theatrical adaptations written in the late 19th century. It selects and reshapes key moments from Austen’s fiction into short duologues and brief scenes for drawing-room performance, with minimal staging but strict period costume. Aimed at cultivated amateurs, it offers practical stage directions, light narrative links, and pen-and-ink costume notes to bring beloved characters from Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Pride and Prejudice to life.

The opening of this collection presents a lively preface arguing that Austen is inherently dramatic and best played without scenery, while insisting on accurate 1790s–1800s dress and offering guidance for amateur staging. It then launches into fully scripted scenes: Catherine Morland and Isabella Thorpe in the Bath Pump Room giddily bond over “horrid” novels and flirtations; Mr and Mrs John Dashwood coolly whittle down a promised settlement for their widowed relations; Miss Bates chatters through Jane Fairfax’s letter as Emma looks for escape; Mrs Elton tries to commandeer Mr Knightley’s planned strawberry party and is politely checked; and Emma’s domestic scenes with Harriet show Harriet burning her Elton “relics,” confessing a new attachment to Knightley, and throwing Emma into turmoil. The section closes with Knightley’s unexpected return and an intense exchange with Emma about Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax, breaking off mid-conversation.