“A girl who is a lady should never marry a man who is not a gentleman. Without this gulf everything would become mingled and soon there would be no difference between gentleman and ladies and the ordinary people. And what sort of a world would that be?”
The Nineteenth Century world is changing and scandal is abroad, a very British scandal involving a disputed title, fraud, bigamy, a legal case, madness and attempted murder. In an extraordinary set of circumstances Lady Anna, a woman of aristocratic birth, finds herself in love with a radical tailor’s son. The weight of the Victorian establishment closes its ranks against the match, which threatens the very foundations of its existence. Now Anna must choose between her family, her class and everything she has ever known or settle for love, destitution and disgrace.
It’s 1871. Anthony Trollope writes two thousand words of his latest novel Lady Anna daily before breakfast on board the SS Great Britain bound for Australia. His fellow passengers are profoundly shocked by its content. Yet political tides are changing and the repercussions of this will change the way people think and live. Forever.
Lady Anna: All At Sea is a new play which considers how power and prejudice act as a crucible of corruption; about how an intolerant society too easily becomes a very dangerous a thing.
