Watsons (Dramatic Reading)

Jane Austen and L. Oulton

The Watsons is one of two novels that Jane Austen left unfinished at her death in 1817. The premise of The Watsons was known to Austen’s family, and her niece Catherine Hubback wrote a novel using this premise entitled The Younger Sister that was published in 1850, albeit with considerable differences from the novel fragment Austen left behind. In 1871, Austen’s nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published a revised and enlarged edition of his 1869 biography of Austen, and this second edition included the previously unpublished manuscript of The Watsons along with an introduction by Austen-Leigh.

In 1923, The Watsons appeared in print again, this time with the story continued by an author identified as L. Oulton. Unlike Hubback’s The Younger Sister, this publication is a true continuation of Austen’s The Watsons, including Austen’s text as she wrote it. Although Austen had not indicated chapter divisions in her text, Oulton’s continuation includes Austen’s text as the first five and a half chapters and supplements these with an additional thirteen and a half chapters as well as Austen-Leigh’s 1871 introduction. Austen’s text comprises just over half of the novel because Oulton’s chapters are so much shorter. With nineteen chapters total, this version of The Watsons is shorter than any of the novels Austen completed in her lifetime. Almost nothing is known about L. Oulton, not even what “L.” stands for nor whether this name is a pseudonym. The Oulton continuation of The Watsons fared poorly among the critics, but it has the distinction of being the first true continuation of The Watsons in a long line of The Watsons continuations; the trend of writing continuations of The Watsons has become increasingly popular with the rise of Jane Austen fan fiction, particularly in the 21st century. - Summary by David Purdy

Cast list:
Emma Watson: Michelle Purdy
Elizabeth Watson: Jenn Broda
Arthur Howard: David Purdy
Tom Musgrave: Elijah Fisher
Lord Osborne: Beeswaxcandle
Julia Osborne: Christine Rottger
Jane Watson: Lynette Caulkins
Robert Watson: Larry Wilson
Mr. Watson: Algy Pug
Lady Osborne: Claudia Caldi
Charles Blake: Inkell
Sam Watson: Ehsan Ahmed Mehedi
Augusta Watson: Silvia Wolf
Mrs. Edwards: Victoria Alice Bell
Mr. Edwards: Yoganandh T
Mary Edwards: DariaAM
Margaret Watson: Denzlee Knudsen
Fanny Carr: Norah Nelson
Jemima Burton: WendyKatzHiller
Captain Hunter: Scott Caulkins
Mrs. Blake: Theresa Fisher
Dr. Richards: David Lawrence
Colonel Beresford: redrun
Captain Conway: ToddHW
Nanny: The Countess
Woman: Agnes Robert Behr
Man: lorda
J. E. Austen Leigh: Priamedes
Narrator: James R. Hedrick (3 hr 53 min)