The Last Rose of Summer is a fresh new exploration of Jane Austen and her work

Sara Scott

I am originally from Southampton and very proud to be working in my home town. I became Creative Director for Mayflower in November 2024. I have a wide-ranging career working in the arts and community across theatre, education, voluntary, health and local authority sectors. The thread of my career has been deepening and widening access for all.

I have worked for Mayflower for 12 years now, initially developing the creative learning work at Mayflower Theatre, and then going on to establish the operation at Mayflower Studios, evolving the venue as a cultural hub for the city focused on our local community, offering performance, creation, artist development and participation opportunities for all. Now as Creative Director I lead on creative, participation and inclusion work across our two venues.

It’s a fantastic job and so varied. The best bit is getting to see people flourish and develop their potential – whether that’s a young person on a youth project performing on stage for the first time or an artist just embarking on a tour of their new show.

This summer we’re delighted to be bringing a brand-new one-act musical to Mayflower Studios, inspired by Jane Austen’s life and her connection to Southampton and commemorating the 250^th anniversary of her birth.

The Last Rose of Summer introduces us to Jane, her family and the characters of her stories as she grapples with her ambition and society’s expectations of a Regency lady – which were not always compatible. With an all-female creative team, choreography from Birmingham Royal Ballet and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, and a cast of over 50 talented local young people, it’s an exciting contemporary musical that takes a fresh look at one of the UK’s greatest writers.

We began planning 18 months ago and the writing team started work about a year ago. Rebecca Brewer and Daisy Chute are fantastic writers who are with us as part of The Cameron Mackintosh Composer in Residence Scheme.

The Last Rose of Summer is for everyone. It’s a fun, uplifting and emotional journey through Jane Austen’s work, especially focusing on her time in Southampton. We have a wonderful talented cast performing exciting new music and choreography.

The inspiration for this production was to centre the work of the most successful female author in the world and honour her success. Our industry still lacks representation in many ways and giving an opportunity to platform an all-female creative team felt like the ideal way to connect with Jane Austen. We are very lucky to have Zoie Golding directing the piece, Bella Barlow as Musical Director and Layla Bradbeer as Designer. They are leading a whole host of talented female creatives who have shown huge passion for the work.

Working with Birmingham Royal Ballet and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures has been fantastic. They are leading national dance companies and it’s important to us to champion dance in all our work. What better way than to give young local people the opportunity to work with these talented choreographers?

The Last Rose of Summer has 57 young people from Southampton in the company and there will be more involved backstage. They are incredibly talented and follow the story of Jane from a young age at school through to her 18^th birthday and beyond. They’re able to connect with her in a personal way as she struggles with living in a large family and her frustrations in finding ways to be able to create.

It’s been wonderful developing this new piece with young people involved throughout. Our writers Daisy and Rebecca have worked with them as they’ve written and developed the work, so it authentically includes their ideas and perspectives on growing up.

I’m delighted to say that audiences at Tapestry festival on 19^th and 20^th July at Westquay Esplanade will be treated to a special extract performance on the afternoon of Saturday 19^th. We’re all very excited about that.

I think it’s important to make this show relevant for today, bringing Austen’s life, work and connection to Southampton alive for modern audiences. This is a very contemporary show. The writing, direction, musical direction, design and choreography are fresh and exciting, connecting brilliantly to the familiar stories of Jane and her vibrant characters.

To find out more about The Last Rose of Summer and book tickets for the performances on 8^th and 9^th August, visit Mayflower’s website.