Sir William Mountague

Jane Austen’s sketch of ‘Sir William’, dedicated to her brother Charles, describes a man who indiscriminately falls in love with each woman he meets. He dispatches rivals and obstacles with aplomb, but can’t bring himself to get married on September 1^st. Why? It is never spelt out, but a day of partridge-hunting seems to be the irresistible alternative. Romance is inflated and punctured repeatedly in this story, like an old bicycle tyre.

Jonny Aubrey-Bentley and Anita Pomario play up the surreal comedy of Sir William’s hectic love-life in a dizzying sequence of ‘meet-cutes’. What will happen when September 1^st finally arrives?

Read Jane Austen’s “unfinished performance” ‘Sir William Mountague’