All is vanity, nothing is fair.”

This is the 1980s, the world of the New Romantics, Madonna, and the Blitz Club. Into this world of raucous insanity step our troupe of partygoers, preparing to drunkenly regale one another with a retelling of Thackeray’s classic Vanity Fair. Through a spectacle of song, dance, and platform boots, our company brings heroines Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp to stages across the West Country, following their journey through Vanity Fair and upper class London society.

Don’t be afraid, our twentieth century retelling is certainly not lacking in any of Thackeray’s original wit or satirical voice. Instead, our Vanity Fair questions how much we’ve really changed since Amelia and Becky’s time of strict hierarchies, petty social rules, upper class greed, and rigid gender politics. We hold up the looking glass to three specific moments in English history — England in the time of George IV, 1980s London, and contemporary Bristol — and ponder how much society remains the same, and so whether we are living in our own versions of Vanity Fair.

Following a three year hiatus from touring, and a bustling five weeks of rehearsal, our BOVTS second years are ready to hit the road and share this raucous world with you. Welcome to Vanity Fair...

West Country Tour

23 June - 9 July 2022

Director: Paul Chesterton

Assistant Director: Lowri Mathias

Designer: Georgina Vasey

Tour Technician and Lighting Designer: Willow Digweed

Sound Designer: Elliot Paris-Hamilton

Production Manager: Steve O’Brien

Assistant Production Manager: Joe Culpin

Production Supervisor: Bryony Rutter

Stage Manager: Dan Knipe

Deputy Stage Manager: Maisy Harbert

Assistant Stage Manager: Elsa Gear

Costume Supervisor: Maisie Higgins

Prop Supervisor: Jessica Manley

Cast: Anna Murphy, Assa Kanoute, Archie Fisher, Conor Doran, Ephraim Sampson, Gaia Ashwood, Kerr Louden, Kurtis Thompson, Lucy Pascoe, Louise O’Dowd, Peter Burley, Sophie Charlton

Vanity Fair