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 1st. 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 1st finally arrives?