Three plays based on George Eliot’s classic novel, which can be performed as a trilogy or as standalone pieces.
George Eliot’s Middlemarch is peopled with some of literature’s most memorable characters. In Geoffrey Beevers’ new dramatisation, all three interconnected plays can be performed as a trilogy, but each play can also stand on its own, telling the story of Middlemarch from the perspective of a different set of characters: from county, town and countryside.
In Dorothea’s Story, set among the big houses of the local aristocracy of Middlemarch, young, intelligent Dorothea is so enamoured of the pedantic Reverend Casaubon that she marries him, much to everyone’s disbelief. But her friendship with Casaubon’s young cousin Will Ladislaw arouses suspicions in her new husband, who will do anything to thwart their mutual affection.
In The Doctor’s Story, set in the town of Middlemarch itself, where everyone wants to know each other’s business, idealistic Dr Lydgate arrives in Middlemarch determined to achieve great things. He catches the eye of the Mayor’s beautiful, self-centred daughter Rosamond but is torn between ambition and loyalty as he is drawn into an alliance with a corrupt banker.
In the poignant but light-hearted Fred and Mary’s Story, set amongst hard-working countryfolk, Fred is trying to please his parents and become a country gentleman, but his childhood sweetheart Mary will have none of it.
The Middlemarch Trilogy premiered at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in October 2013.
