William Makepeace Thackeray

Thackeray's best-loved work, "Vanity Fair, is a satire of epic proportions, and proves that deep-seated cynicism and heartfelt morality don't have to get in the way of a good story. Filled with exceptionally drawn characters, biting social humor, and Thackeray's own illustrations, "Vanity Fair is not only one of the great English novels of the nineteenth century, its title has become synonymous with the follies of high society. Nicholas Dames is Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. In addition to his many articles, reviews, papers, and presentations, he has published the book "Amnesiac Selves: Nostalgia, Forgetting, and British Fiction, 1810-1870.

This adaptation of Thackeray's novel traces the lives of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley from the time when they were at school to their middle age. The play moves fluidly over a period of 30 years, the scenes remaining episodic and connected by the shifts in characters' fortunes and development.