Jane Austen's Books & Adaptations discussion

February 2021 - January 2022 Group Listen

The Jane Austen Collection: An Audible Original Drama



Length: 45 hrs

In this Audible Original collection, an all-star list of narrators (Billie Piper, Claire Foy, Emma Thompson, Florence Pugh and Gugu Mbatha-Raw) capture Austen’s pin-sharp humour and tone in these dramatisations of her six beloved novels accompanied by a full cast.

Includes audio dramatizations of 6 JA novels:
Sense and Sensibility—narrated by Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
Pride and Prejudice—narrated by Claire Foy.
Mansfield Park—narrated by Billie Piper.
Emma—narrated by Emma Thompson.
Northanger Abbey—narrated by Emma Thompson.
Persuasion—narrated by Florence Pugh.

Included in Audible Plus Catalog.
2022 UPDATE: This got comically out of hand. Anyway, I hope to finish the collection by the end of January 2022.

Listening Schedule


Listen at your own pace.

I'm listening to Sense & Sensibility Dramatization.

Sense and Sensibility—narrated by Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

Austen introduces us to the Dashwood sisters who upon the death of their father are left with little money or status and without their family home. Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her.

Directed by Celia de Wolff. With Bessie Carter, Anya Chalotra, Josh Dylan, Robert Glenister, Paterson Joseph, Emma Mackey, Hattie Morahan, Carl Prekopp, Blake Ritson, Lesley Sharp, Fenella Woolgar, Nicolas Armfield, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Lily Cooper and Tom Glenister.

Audible UK did an interview with the actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw who narrated parts of the Sense and Sensibility audio drama.




You can see it here: https://youtu.be/eSTLHQ1e4Vc

I love that she's such a big fan of 1995 Pride and Prejudice BBC series that she can hum the opening titles theme off the cuff.

I can't wait till we see her in the new Disney+ MCU Loki show. (and hopefully by then Disney+ will be available in the Czech republic.)

I have read both "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudice". I loved them both, but P&P I loved a little more. It was the first one I read! :)

Melissa (ladybug) wrote: "I have read both "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudice". I loved them both, but P&P I loved a little more. It was the first one I read! :)"

Melissa, I love Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility and Lady Susan - they're all 5 star reads for me. Northanger Abbey is a little lower with 4 stars (but it got a re-read to get there) and Mansfield Park is dead last with the rating between 2 and 3 stars. I know that there are fans of MP who absolutely love the book but I just can't - it was a chore to re-read it - so boring.

BTW This thread is for the audio dramatizations that are part of the The Jane Austen Collection: An Audible Original Drama. These are not audiobooks but rather 8+ hours long adaptations that combine narration and full-cast drama.

Zuzana wrote: "BTW This thread is for the audio dramatizations that are part of the The Jane Austen Collection: An Audible Original Drama. These are not audiobooks but rather 8+ hours long adaptations that combine narration and full-cast drama. :)"..."

Yes, I was aware. :) I have it at audible. :)

I guess I was thrown by the use of "read" in your first comment. :D They exist only as audio. That's why I thought you referred to the novels.
Anyway, they had to dramatize, trim and change the original text to fit it into the 8 hours long format. From what I've listened from S&S so far I think they did a pretty good job. I'm just a bit annoyed that the Audible didn't credit the author of the adaptation.

I did listen to Emma that is part of this collection last year - Audible released it separately - and they credited Anna Leah as the author who adapted the novel.
Emma: An Audible Original Drama by Anna Lea


Anyway, how does the P&P dramatization compare to the novel, Melissa? Did you notice any significant changes? Anything stood out as new? Sometimes adaptations reveal something that the reader missed in the original work - that's why I like them so much.

Did you listen to all the works in this collection or do you have some of them "left"?

Zuzana wrote: "Anyway, they had to dramatize, trim and change the original text to fit it into the 8 hours long format..."

I was trying to figure that out. I know it says "dramatization," but it also says "unabridged," which is confusing. There are full-cast audiobooks that are truly unabridged, so I thought that's what this was too. Especially since it's 45 hours compared to the 14 hours of the BBC Radio Drama Collection from 2016.

I've got the Alison Larkin Complete Unabridged JA Novels audiobook collection and it's 81 hours.

Anyway if anybody's looking for great unabridged audiobooks I can recommend

Pride and Prejudice

and
Sense and Sensibility


both narrated by Rosamund Pike (she played Jane in 2005 P&P Movie).

Both part of the Audible Plus Catalog. - If you have Audible membership you can listen to them for free (you don't have to spend any credits on them).

Finished Sense and Sensibility. Divided into 15 chapters - each 30 to 40 minutes long. I liked it quite a bit. If you don´t have time to read the novel or listen to the unabridged audiobook, this is the next best thing.
I enjoyed all the performances except for Elinor - Emma Mackey (Sex Education) who had the tendency to slur her words. The rest of the cast was great - my favorite the narrator Gugu Mbatha-Raw - she did an excellent job. They added music to the background - I didn't mind but some people might find it irritating.


It was adapted by Anna Lea. This information is included only in audio at the end of the S&S portion of the collection complete with entire cast and production team.


[Emma Mackey (Elinor) & Anya Chalotra (Marianne)]

I adjusted the listening schedule. Every audio drama is 8+hours long. I guess I was overambitious to plan two per month. This schedule is much more easy to comply with.

Pride and Prejudice

LOL at my overambitious plans! :D

Last week I listened to the P&P dramatization. The cast was excellent. If I had to nitpick I'd say that they could have casted a younger sounding man to play Mr Collins - he's supposed to be 25yo.

I just didn't like the "invented" parts for the narrator. They were sticking out like a sore thumb. They just didn't fit in with the rest of the Jane Austen's text and were sounding "fake" for lack of a better word. It's usually the same with some of the pastiches and JA fanfiction where authors try to imitate JA's language but just can't get it right. BTW the narrator Claire Foy (of The Crown fame) was amazing and did all she could - it was the text that didn't quite satisfy me.

Pride and Prejudice—narrated by Claire Foy.
Directed by Nicolette Chin.
Adapted by Sian Owen, script edited by Anna Lea.
With Tarrick Benham, Nicole Davis, Barnaby Edwards, Billie Fulford-Brown, Rebecca Front, Emma Gregory, Ferdinand Kingsley, Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Tim McInnerny, Heather Nicol, Sarah Ovens, Janet Prince, Jenny Rainsford, Jennifer Saayeng, Sam Stafford, Katy Sobey, Homer Todiwala, Patience Tomlinson and Simon Yadoo.



[Tarrick Benham as Mr Darcy & Billie Fulford-Brown as Elizabeth]

Mansfield Park

Finally, I've made some progress in Mansfield Park portion of the collection. I knew it was gonna be a problem as it is by far my least favorite JA book. So I got stuck as always bored stiff by Fanny's insipidity.
In the meantime I finished Lover's Vows and it made wonders for my enjoyment of the part of the book dealing with private theatricals in Mansfield. It's so much more fun knowing what is the significance of what characters Edmund, Mary, Maria & Henry chose/were chosen to play.

BTW Billie Piper does a great job narrating. I know people agree on her not being a good fit for Fanny in 2007 Mansfield Park TV movie but she's great here in another role.

I'm about halfway through.

I've just finished Mansfield Park. And what can I say. I've never liked Fanny (or Edmund) so this time round I tried to be more attentive to parts that describe Fanny's character and her inner musings to understand her better and maybe like her just a bit more. I've always pitied her because of her situation and constant bullying from that devilish Aunt Norris but otherwise I found her insipid.

At first I felt compassion for her (as I usually do at the beginning of the book). And then while not thrilled by her passivity I was satisfied with her good qualities - Fanny is not stupid, in fact she's quite perceptive and appreciative of natural beauty. I was a bit irritated by her self-inflicted anxiousness but I excused it as her always been put upon by the rest of the Bertram family. She never was appreciated and always been reminded by Aunt Norris that she was "lesser" (including her judgment) and this led to her doubting herself. But then I fully remembered why I never liked her before when the book got to her Portsmouth visit. It was like she revealed her worst facet there - her hollier than holly attitude. She's so above her family, she constantly criticises everything in the household but apart from her effort regarding Susan she never lends a hand. I've also noticed her hypocrisy when it came to her dealings with Mary Crawford (yes, I was surprised, too) and the misfortune of Bertram's family. Funny thing is that I'm fairly sure that part was put there by the author to highlight Fanny's good taste and morality. It doesn´t work for me. To me she's revealed herself to be an uncharitable snob when it comes to people either beneath her in status or people who displayed any flaws in character in the past - she doesn't allow for any possible improvement. "Her good opinion once lost is lost forever."

So I'm sorry to say I still don't like her. If anything I like her less than before. What a pity. The book is beautifully written.

I believe I would have enjoyed the same story much more if written from the perspective of the morally dubious Mary Crawford. That would have been interesting.

The director of Mansfield Park dramatisation Tamsin Collison recounts the experience of remotely directing Billie Piper and rest of the cast during the Covid lockdown: https://www.tamsincollison.co.uk/news...

"A couple of actors did have access to properly-kitted out recording spaces, but for the most part C19 proved to be the mother of invention, and the solutions were impressive. Home studio set-ups ranged from duvet-draped wardrobes, to hall cupboards, to upended sofa backs.

Cleanfeed allows people to dial into a shared audio space from anywhere in the country (and overseas) so the cast was scattered right across the UK from Hampshire to Newcastle. We found ourselves recording in the hottest week of the year, cramped under duvets and with all windows shut. Overheating computers were one issue, and overheating actors were another, but despite the huge technical challenges, we got 70+ scenes successfully recorded in 6 days. The audio was then sent to the sound designer Adrienne Quartly and the composer Isabel Herchmann to work their post-production magic (also working from home) and put it all together.

None of us – cast or crew – were trained or equipped for working remotely before Lockdown hit in March. We each had to figure things out for ourselves independently at home, so I am really proud of what we achieved together on this production."

What an experience!

A short interview with Billie Piper in the studio during her break from recording MP: https://youtu.be/Zzaz87_GEG8

Mansfield Park

Dramatised by Catherine Dyson;
Directed by Tamsin Collison;
Cast: Billie Piper (Narrator), Matt Addis (Sir Thomas Bertram), Lucy Briers (Mrs Norris), James Corrigan (Henry Crawford), Scarlett Courtney (Fanny Price), Rosalind Eleazar (Mary Crawford), Jennifer English (Susan Price), Emma Fielding (Lady Bertram), Ash Hunter (Tom Bertram), Joel MacCormack (Edmund Bertram), Harry Myers (Mr Rushworth), Esme Scarborough (Julia Bertram), Lucy Scott (Mrs Price), Bert Seymour (Mrs Yates) and Natalie Simpson (Maria Bertram).


[Scarlett Courtney as Fanny Price & Joel MacCormack as Edmund Bertram]

Loved this production. Wonderful narration and really faithful adaptation. The first time (in this collection) I loved the whole cast, they all did a fantastic job bringing this dramatisation to life (all the more worthy of praise given the difficult circumstances it was recorded in - see above).

I listened to the Emma portion of the collection last year so I'm skipping it this time.

Here are my thoughts from last year:

Emma: An Audible Original Drama
A delightful 8+ hour-long full-cast audio dramatisation.
Narrated by: Emma Thompson, Joanne Froggatt, Isabella Inchbald, Aisling Loftus, Joseph Millson, Morgana Robinson and others
Adapted by: Anna Lea



It's a lovely adaptation. Emma Thompson is cast as the narrator and she does a fabulous job. :) She is joined by notable names including Joanne Froggatt (Anna Bates from Downton Abbey), Aisling Loftus (Sonya Rostova from BBC War and Peace), Isabella Inchbald (the rising star who voices Emma herself) and BAFTA award-winning comedian Morgana Robinson. The adaptation is 8 hours 21 min long and nothing major is cut. So if you for whatever reason don't have time or you're just not in the mood to read the book this is the next best thing.

link to the Behind the scenes video: https://youtu.be/BzcdY6vyOUk

Listening to Northanger Abbey. So far I'm liking it very much. The cast is really good. It's also narrated by Emma Thompson. She's excellent as usual.

I really enjoyed Northanger Abbey. It's a fun book and it translated really well into an audio drama.

I will dig around for the cast info. But all of the actors did an excellent job with one exception. The person who voiced John Thorpe sounded like a permanently drunk middle aged lecher. I don't know who to blame - the actor or the director?

I'm listening to Persuasion and so far it's my least favorite of the adaptations. There are too many changes, sometimes contradicting the book. E.g. Wentworth talking sh*t about Anne with his sister. I'm almost sure that in the book it's implied that Mrs Croft never knew that the woman that had broken Frederick's heart all those years ago was Anne. There are also several added scenes with Elizabeth that I don't like.

Surprisingly I managed to finish Persuasion before the end of January. Finally, I listened to all of the audio dramatizations in this collection. It took me a year. :)