Did Jane Austen approve of plays?
A pivotal plot point of Mansfield Park is the play brought about by the eldest son Tom Bertram whilst his father is away. The controversial Lovers' Vows allowed Mr Crawford and Maria Bertram to flirt shamelessly and also Edmund Bertram to become closer to Mary Crawford. However, the protagonist Fanny Price and Sir Thomas Bertram disapprove of the play. Does this tell us that Jane Austen disapproves of them?
Part of Jane's upbringing involved private theatricals at Steventon with family and close friends from the age of around seven to thirteen. Unlike in Mansfield Park, her family encouraged it. It is thought that Jane watched the plays at first, then as she got a bit older she would take part. Most of the plays were comedies, which is thought to be where Jane acquired some of her comedic and satirical talents.
In her youth, Jane wrote plays for her and her families amusement. Rev George Austen had an extensive library so Jane would have read many as well. The plays her family put on included Richard Sheridan's The Rivals and David Garrick's Bon Ton. Reading aloud was also a popular way to spend an evening at the time so plays would be read aloud after dinner as well.
As not many letters survive from Jane's time in Bath (1801-1806), it's unclear how much she visited the theatre. Though we might infer that she did as she refers to the theatre in Northanger Abbey on several occasions. Lovers' Vows, the play that features in Mansfield Park, had fifteen performances in Bath between 1801-1806 so it's likely that this is where Jane became familiar with the play.
When Jane visited her brother Edward and his family at Godmersham, home based theatricals made a reappearance. According to her niece Fanny's diary, Jane took part in unrehearsed readings. She was always very enthusiastic when reading aloud, her other niece Caroline reminisced that Jane took up "a volume of Eveline and read a few pages of Mr Smith and the Brangtons and I thought it was like a play. She had a very good speaking voice..". From these recollections it is clear that Jane enjoyed taking part in theatricals.
Whilst living at Chawton Cottage, Jane would have only gone to see plays at the theatre when travelling to London. In 1811 she saw Bickerstaff's The Hypocrite at the Lyceum (famously known these days for The Lion King). In 1813 she saw Kane O'Hara's Midas, Garrick and Colman's The Clandestine Marriage at Covent Garden, Don Juan a pantomime by Delpinin at the Lyceum, Beazley's Five Hours at Brighton (The Boarding House), and The Beehive by Millingen. In 1814 she saw Merchant of Venice at Drury Lane, Garrick's Isabella at Covent Garden, Dora Jordan's The Devil to Pay, Arne's opera Artaxerxes, and the Farmer's Wife by Charles Dibdin Jnr.
Comparing it to the amount of times I venture to the theatre, to me it sounds like Jane liked to go a lot, though she did comment in a letter dated 25th September 1813 that she believed "the Theatres are thought at a low ebb at present". I think considering Jane's proximity to plays throughout her life shows that she did very much approve of plays!
