LYME Regis has two famous literary connections – Jane Austen’s Persuasion and The French Lieutenant’s Woman, the best-known novel by long-time Lyme resident John Fowles. There was a 250th anniversary production of Jane Austen’s Persuasion at the Marine Theatre last year, and this year, from 11th to 14th February, the mysterious cloaked woman returns in a new play.

The production of Fowles’ novel, famously filmed with Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, has been adapted by Mark Healy, who also adapted the version of Persuasion that was staged at Lyme last year.

The new stage version brings the complexities of Fowles’ ideas to life, almost 60 years after the original novel was published.

Set mostly in Lyme itself, this is a tragic story of unsuitable love in respectable Victorian Britain. The audience is given access to the inner workings of the original novel by the writer who, like a puppet-master, manipulates characters and plot as the story unfolds.

Director Chris Gill has worked closely with Mark Healy, supported by the Fowles Trust, to create this adaptation especially for the Marine Theatre.

John Fowles lived in Lyme Regis, from 1965 until his death in 2005. For most of that period he lived at a handsome house, Belmont, which is now owned by the Landmark Trust, who restored it to its original 18th century form, with Victorian additions removed.