INTERVIEW | Rebecca Banatvala, Northanger Abbey at The Orange Tree Theatre

Rebecca Banatvala currently stars in the “Fresh and inclusive..exuberantly, unashamedly silly” (The Stage) production of Northanger Abbey at the Orange Tree Theatre. Playing the role of Catherina Morland, Banatavala stars in Zoe Cooper’s fresh perspective on the novel by Jane Austen. We spoke with Banatvala to find out more about her and this production.

1. To begin with, can you tell us a little bit about your journey into theatre?

I didn’t properly register that you could have a career in theatre until university. I got involved with the drama scene there and just had the best time. I realised it’s what I wanted to do when I took a play up to Edinburgh with some mates. It was my third year of a four-year course so they were all about to leave university and thinking about careers and office jobs and I remember sitting on our very make shift stage thinking but I don’t ever want to stop doing this! I had no idea what that would look like or how to go about it so some googling led me to drama schools. I went to Central, studied on the MA Acting Classical Strand and have been acting since! 

2. You’ve worked on smaller productions before as well as on TV, what are the differences between these types of work and what is your favourite thing about them?
I would say one of the main differences between theatre and TV is the rehearsal process. In theatre, you have time to properly get to know everyone and there can be much more of a sense of collaboration across the board; all the creatives lighting, design, music, actors, directors, movement direction etc. are all in the room working on the project together. Whereas as an actor out TV, there’s a pre-decided shot and you fit into that. You don’t get to build relationships in the same way as on stage; often you turn up on the day and shake hands with the other actor playing your mother and that’s it!

I think the quality of the acting changes too; in theatre, you’re in an imaginative space and need to project and play out for your audience but on camera, it’s captured in the character’s real space and the camera takes the place of the audience. 

3. You are currently working on Northanger Abbey at Orange Tree Theatre. What has it been like being part of a new adaptation of a Jane Austen novel?
Great fun! Austen’s world is such an exciting one to inhabit; it’s funny, tongue in cheek and can be quite acerbic. The richness of her work both in terms of character and social commentary makes it incredibly rewarding to work on as an actor. What Zoe has done so excellently in the adaptation is to make Austen’s characters even more vivid and to push the themes even further in a way that feels incredibly relevant for today’s audience.

In Northanger Abbey, Austen explores the power stories can hold over us and how they influence our worldview. Zoe’s addition of queer self-discovery into this journey for Cath adds a whole new dimension to this. The central, passionate and fizzy relationship in the book is the friendship between the two women and Zoe runs with that and allows it to blossom here - the adaptation feels both feels very true to Austen’s text and completely new and fresh. 

4. What can people expect from this new adaptation?
It’s a warm, big hearted, moving and incredibly funny retelling which explores the importance of stories, how they’re told and who gets to tell them. Hopefully, they will be reminded of their own adolescence, what it’s like to venture out into the world, to fall in love for the first time, to learn how your actions affect others and that dissonance between who you want to be and who you are.

5. This adaptation of Northanger Abbey explores queer themes - is this a thread of your work as an actor you are passionate about? What has been your favourite part of exploring those specifically in this work?
Yes definitely, as this production will testify, seeing yourself reflected in stories (that old buzzword representation!) is incredibly important and it’s something I seek in my work. There’s also something exciting creatively about being able to explore stories that haven’t been told before. I firmly believe we shouldn’t shy away from the knotty complexity of queer issues and represent them truthfully as they are, instead of sanitised or softened. Within that joy is always essential. I think one of my favourite things about exploring queer work is how much it resonates with audience members. Touring Sap, a previous show about bisexuality, and having people thanking us afterwards and saying they’ve never felt seen like that before was incredible. It’s one of the most rewarding aspects of my job and a reminder of just how important theatre and stories are. 

6. Tell us a little bit about your character Cath and how she falls into these queer themes? 
Cath is a headstrong young girl in training to be a heroine and lost in an imaginary world of gothic fiction. But she’s also rambunctious and much more at home rolling around in the mud with her brothers. Cath falls in love with her best friend Iz. There was no language for this back then and certainly no overt examples of it in society. Cath struggles to grapple with her vision of the world, her place within it and the story she desperately wants to fit into. The options for women were so much more limited then and Cath is aware that she could fall in love with a man (in todays language she’s bisexual) and that provides a lot of anxiety for her; she knows she could love a husband, and that fits so perfectly with her view of herself as the romantic heroine but the person who she’s fallen in love with is a woman.

7. What other novels, such as this one would you like to see adapted in the way that Northanger Abbey has?
I recently read Three Women by Lisa Taddeo and loved it, it was such a tender and powerful exploration of female sexuality and gender dynamics. It was so honest and well observed. I think it would be fascinating to discover how to stage it - how do you go about staging an exclusively female gaze? and how we can represent and explore female sexuality on stage in a way that truly feels empowered? 

8. Why should people book tickets to see this show at the Orange Tree Theatre?

It’s an incredibly moving, poignant and entertaining story. The characters are brilliant and it’s hilarious - a great pastiche of Austen’s world and gothic literature with a lot of fun campery! Its true to the soul of Austen’s work yet sheds new light on it through an exciting new queer perspective. Plus it’s been worked on by some of the best creatives across the board; it’s just going to be bloody brilliant!

Catch Rebecca Banatvala in Northanger Abbey at The Orange Tree Theatre until 24 February 2024.