Adapted by Declan Donnellan
From the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray
Directed by 

You've got no money and you want to compete with those who have. Everybody is striving for what is not worth the having!

Adapted from Thackeray’s satirical novel, Vanity Fair is a fast, funny and fabulous romp through the the ambitions and vanities of society in nineteenth century England.

We follow the lives of Amelia Sedley and Becky Sharp on their parallel journeys through life and love, poverty and prosperity. Becky  is cunning and manipulative and willing to do whatever it takes to succeed in life - in contrast Amelia believes fidelity and honour are what really matter. But will either of them be proved right?

As their lives and careers intertwine and the young women follow their soldier husbands into the Napoleonic Wars, Thackeray’s tale puts British morality under the microscope and finds it wanting...

Originally published in monthly installments between January 1847 and July 1848, the story is subtitled ‘a novel without a hero’, due to its unconventional portrayal of a society without scruples. 

Vanity Fair condenses the scandals, dramas, battles and society balls of Thackeray’s novel into two pulsating hours of comedy and drama, and is the first of two plays this season to be directed by Associate Artist, Tony Cownie (Mrs Warren’s Profession, Tartuffe).

Cast and Credits