Mansfield Park

Synopsis

A captivating BBC radio dramatisation of Jane Austen's most overlooked novelSent away from her poverty-stricken parents in Portsmouth to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, nine-year-old Fanny Price is abruptly transplanted to a new, luxurious home: Mansfield Park. Overwhelmed by the grandeur of her surroundings, she feels out of place - and as she grows up, her spoiled cousins, Tom, Maria and Julia, never let her forget her humble beginnings. Only her cousin Edmund treats her with kindness, and the two become close companions.But their lives are turned upside down when Sir Thomas goes away to visit his sugar plantation in the West Indies - and the charismatic Crawfords, Henry and Mary, arrive on the scene. Glamorous, attractive and flirtatious, they shake up the entire Bertram family - and leave Fanny grappling with emotions she's never felt before...In Mansfield Park, Jane Austen gives us her subtlest and most unusual heroine: a displaced child, shaped by family and adversity, who becomes a quietly resolute young woman with an unshakeable moral code. This enthralling dramatisation focusses on the precariousness of Fanny's life - as a poor relation, unmarried, and living on an estate funded by sugar and slavery - and follows her as she navigates this high-stakes world with courage and conviction.Production creditsWritten by Jane AustenAdapted by Clara GlynnProduced by Gaynor MacfarlaneDirected by Bruce YoungFanny Price - Lydia WilsonEdmund Bertram - Bryan DickMary Crawford - Tala GouveiaHenry Crawford - Tom Mothersdale Mrs Norris/Mrs Grant - Janice AcquahLady Bertram - Madeleine WorrallTom Bertram/William Price - Joshua RileySir Thomas - John HollingworthMr Rushworth- Samuel ValentineMaria Bertram - Faith AlabiJulia Bertram - Hollie BurgessFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 10-17 July 2022© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd