Charity event promises intoxicating mix of high drama and high tea!
Cromer Hall will host dramatic readings from Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey to raise funds for a North Norfolk based charity on 28th July. The event will also feature live music and guests will be treated to afternoon cream teas.
Cromer Hall has a fascinating history and is not usually open to the public. For the readings, the script-writer, Margy Seale, has aimed to include all the most significant scenes in the novel, so there will be plenty of romance, comedy and melodrama as well as a beginning-to-end feel. The first act will centre round Catherine Morland’s time in Bath then, after guests have enjoyed their cream tea, the scene will shift to Northanger Abbey itself.
Margy says, “While it is an amateur dramatic fund-raiser, we are delighted to have several professional actors in the cast who are generously sharing their talent with us. The entertainment will be in full-costume, with props, and the actors will be moving round the stage area. The plan is to use the garden to perform, weather permitting.”
The Jane Austen readings are in aid of Hospice Ethiopia UK. The charity, based in Aldborough, raises desperately-needed funds for Hospice Ethiopia. The funds go to help the staff in Addis Ababa to carry out their vital work, supporting desperate patients and training other medics to bring relief to suffering people throughout Ethiopia.
“Cromer Hall is a wonderful Gothic building and is the perfect setting for readings from Northanger Abbey,” says Margy. “It’s incredibly kind of the owners, Benjie and Dido Cabbell-Manners, to open their doors for us. I hope we can do the setting justice!”
There is room for a maximum of about 50 guests, and over half the tickets have been sold, so booking in advance is essential for this exclusive event. Tickets cost £20 each – to book them, or for more information, please contact info@hospiceethiopia.org.uk or ring Sue Mumford on 01263 768699.
Cromer Hall is on Hall Road, Cromer, NR27 9JG. For more information about Hospice Ethiopia visit hospiceethiopia.org.uk.