Most Ardently: RPL Celebrates 250 Years of Jane Austen

Manydown Manor was well known to Jane Austen and her family. The Austen sisters were friends of the Bigg sisters. One night in December 1802, their brother, Harris Bigg-Wither, proposed to Jane- the only proposal of marriage she is known to have received. Famously, Jane rescinded her acceptance the next morning. What went on during the intervening night hours?

Sarah Rose Kearns’ 30-minute play Manydown imagines the conversation between Jane and Cassandra Austen on the evening of Harris Bigg-Wither’s proposal, which changed the course of Jane’s life, and may have been a turning point in English Literature.