Although biographical dramas and literary adaptations are both familiar forms of theatre, the original twist in Craig Baxter’s new play is to plait the genres together. One strand takes place in 1871 on a cruise ship to Australia, with passengers including the novelist Anthony Trollope, his wife Rose and maid Isabella. During the months at sea, Trollope, mid-way through the Palliser novels, has broken off to write a stand-alone two-volume novel called Lady Anna, the story of an impoverished young aristocratic woman who is choosing between two suitors: an earl and a tailor. As the book proceeds at the rate of nine pages a day before breakfast, which Rose then corrects and makes fair copies, the narrative of the book is acted out between the scenes on the boat.This ingenious conceit,