What is the name of the play performed by the characters in 'Mansfield Park'?

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The play chosen by the characters in Mansfield Park is Lovers’ Vows.

Lovers’ Vows is a 1798 drama by Elizabeth Inchbald, adapted from August von Kotzebue’s German play Das Kind der Liebe. In Austen’s novel, Tom Bertram and the visiting Mr Yates encourage the young people at Mansfield Park to stage the work as a private theatrical.

The proposed performance becomes a major test of the characters’ judgement and propriety. Edmund Bertram initially objects, while Mary Crawford, Henry Crawford, Maria Bertram, and others become involved in casting and rehearsals. Fanny Price refuses to participate, partly because she considers the scheme improper and partly because she is pressured to take a role.

The performance never takes place: Sir Thomas Bertram returns unexpectedly and stops the theatricals. Lovers’ Vows is nevertheless crucial to the novel’s plot because the rehearsals expose attractions, rivalries, and moral weaknesses.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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