Throughout the Pride and Prejudice Novel Magazine, we've placed advertisements for the theatre. The featured plays—some imagined, some real—have been woven into our Regency zeitgeist by blending original playbill typography with our own interpretations and .ai-generated imagery.

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Wherever possible, we've included actors' names from original productions. The .ai was guided to ensure male actors appear in striking red jackets, emphasising their roles as utter cads. You'll see this clearly in our selection of plays: The Beggar's Opera, The Clandestine Marriage, Don Juan, and our own creation, The Redcoat Rake. The only exception to this rule is Cinderella.

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While curating for the Pride and Prejudice Novel Magazine, we came across a playbill for The Clandestine Marriage in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The title’s thematic echo of Wickham and Lydia’s relationship immediately caught our attention. Although the plots differ, the play’s popularity throughout the 18th and 19th centuries secured its place in the magazine.

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We exercised a touch of creative licence in dressing our .ai version of Lord Ogleby in Wickham’s signature red jacket. While Ogleby is far less morally dubious than Wickham, the age gap between him and Fanny is enough to make a modern audience wince. It’s likely Austen saw the play herself. She was in London in September 1813 and mentions it in a letter to her sister Cassandra.

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Side note:
Tom Hollander, who portrayed Mr. Collins in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, also played Sir John Ogleby in the 2020 production of The Clandestine Marriage. Christopher Benjamin, who played Sir William Lucas in the 1995 BBC adaptation, has also appeared in productions of the play.