Episode 112: The Thing About Lovers' Vows

Mansfield Park has been hit by the theatrical bug, and shenanigans and intrigue are afoot. Please take your seat and silence all devices, because this episode we’re peeking behind the green baize curtain¹ of Lovers’ Vows.

“Lovers’ Vows, Act 5, Scene the Last,” The Lady’s Magazine 30, no. 1 (1799): 76.

Selected Sources:

• Byrne, Paula. The Genius of Jane Austen: Her Love of Theatre and Why She Works in Hollywood. Harper Perennial, 2024.

• Byrne, Paula. The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things. Harper Perennial, 2014.

• Ford, Susan Allen. “‘It Is about Lovers’ Vows’: Kotzebue, Inchbald, and the Players of Mansfield Park.” Persuasions On-Line 27, no. 1 (2006). https://jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol27no1/ford.htm?

• ———. What Jane Austen’s Characters Read (and Why). Bloomsbury Academic, 2024.

• Honan, Park. Jane Austen: Her Life. Fawcett Columbine, 1989.

• Hussain, Azar. “Jane Austen, Lovers’ Vows, and the Periodic Press.” Persuasions On-Line 43, no. 1 (2022).

• ———. “Performances of Lovers’ Vows in Bath 1801–1806.” Notes and Queries 66, no. 2 (2019): 268–71. https://doi.org/10.1093/notesj/gjz036.

• Inchbald, Elizabeth. “Lovers’ Vows: A Play, in Five Acts: Altered from the German of Kotzebue.” In Mansfield Park, edited by Claudia L. Johnson. A Norton Critical Edition. W. W. Norton & Company, 1998.

• Le Faye, Deirdre. Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels. Frances Lincoln, 2003.

• Newark, Elizabeth. “Words Not Spoken: Courtship and Seduction in Jane Austen’s Novels.” In The Talk in Jane Austen, edited by Bruce Stovel and Lynn Weinlos Gregg, with Jane Austen society of North America. The University of Alberta press, 2002.

• Russell, Gillian. “Private Theatricals.” In The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre, 1730–1830, 1st ed., edited by Jane Moody and Daniel O’Quinn. Cambridge University Press, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521852371.013.

• Worsley, Lucy. Jane Austen at Home. First U.S. edition. St. Martin’s Press, 2017.

Still images from the 1999 adaptation of Mansfield Park, as discussed in the episode. The last image is the original image used for this episode's title image. You can see that Maria and Henry are apparently just *really* getting into the original stage directions.

Other Relevant Episodes

• Episode 36: The Thing About Regency Theatre with Guest Lauren Wethers

Jane-uary Meet-up

We were originally planning on having a virtual get together in December to celebrate Austen’s 250th birthday (as mentioned in the episodes on the assizes), but as there are already so many great offerings during that time, we decided to instead celebrate Jane in January. We would love to see you there! For more information and to sign up, head over to the registration page.

1. The pride and joy of Aunt Norris.