However, Tomalin argues that Austen is not known to have condemned plays outside "Mansfield Park". Austen was an avid theatregoer and a critical admirer of the great actors. In childhood her family had embraced the popular activity of home theatre. She had participated in full-length popular plays (and several written by herself) performed in the family dining room at Steventon (and later in the barn), supervised by her clergyman father. Many elements observed by the young Austen during family theatricals are reworked in the novel, including the temptation of James, her recently ordained brother, by their flirtatious cousin Eliza.