Persuasion Play adapted from Jane Austen

Persuasion
This play can either be used for performance (Class Play or Assembly) Cast of 30
or
as a set of guided reading scripts/readers theatre within the classroom- 5 scenes – 6 speakers each
Duration
Around 20 minutes reading time. Inclusion of discussion time will add on around another 10 minutes.
This ‘Quickie Classic’ was written as a precis of the original book into a 30 minute reading/discussion session. The principal characters, guided by a narrator, effectively talk us through the story – with, of course, a few of their own opinions thrown in!
Other ‘quickie classics’ in this series include such writers as Charles Dickens (classics and Christmas novellas), Orson Welles (The Time Machine), Robert Lewis Stephenson (Treasure Island) and Oscar Wilde (The Happy Prince, Selfish Giant etc).
Sample Text
Scene I/Chapter I Background
Cast of 6
Narrator
Anne
Sir Elliot
Lady Russell
Mr. Shepherd
Captain Wentworth
Narrator: So, let’s start with a little background to this story entitled
Lady Russell: (Interrupting) Persuasion!
Narrator: (Huffily) I’d appreciate you not interrupting me, madam.
Lady Russell: Oh, but I can tell everyone all there is to know!
Narrator: Undoubtedly, madam. But I don’t think anyone here will be in a hurry to take any advice from you.
Sir Elliot: Whatever do you mean? I’ll have you know that Lady Russell was my late wife’s greatest friend and I would never hesitate to follow any advice she might give.
Narrator: And therein lies the problem! We should always question other’s advice even when it’s totally well intentioned as in the case of Lady Russell here.
Anne: Well-intentioned doesn’t make it right, as I discovered to my cost!
Capt. Wentworth: But you were just nineteen years of age. Don’t be so hard on yourself.
Anne: But taking that advice cost us seven years of being together!
Capt. Wentworth: It’s true. We should never have let anything come between us. But that’s water under the bridge now, my dear.
Mr. Shepherd: And you weren’t to know you weren’t being given the very best of advice.