Sanditon

"Sanditon" (10 minute Short Film 2014) was filmed in costume on Location at Glemham Hall Suffolk, and was incorporated into a stage production (also filmed) the same year. When Jane Austen died in 1817 she left her last novel "Sanditon" unfinished. Her niece Anna Lefroy attempted a completion of "Sanditon" in 1845 but this was also unfinished. The writer, Chris Brindle, who now owns the Lefroy manuscript adapted both the Austen & Lefroy manuscripts for the stage and added his own completion. The story of how Austen's last unfinished novel secured Austen's lasting reputation and the first biography of the author by her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh formed the subject of a documentary narrated by Amy Burrows (who plays Austen's last heroine Charlotte Heywood in the film). These various elements were released as a two disc DVD.

The 10 minute short film takes up the story from where Austen left it, and addresses the issue of what Sir Edward Denham (Pete Ashmore) and Clara Brereton (Lucy-Jane Quinlan) would have done about their clandestine assignation being discovered by Charlotte Heywood (Amy Burrows). Charlotte Heywood, Clara Brereton, and the West Indies heiress Felicity Lambe (Bonnie Adair) then plot together to arrange matters to suit the outcomes they desire.

The 10 minute short remains as a pilot for a possible full length feature, and the stage play as a basis for further theatrical development. Many of the cast have gone on to the musical "Auditions" in development in 2015.