Persuasion

Bath Etiquette

Persuasion

by Dawn Bush, adapted from the novel by Jane Austen

DOT Productions, Theatre at the Tabard, Chiswick until 7^th October

Review by Claire Alexander

Persuasion is Jane Austen’s final (complete) novel and Austen experts (of which I am not) often say that Anne is one of her most mature, and reflective heroines. 

The plot however is instantly Austen.  Anne Elliot is the elder daughter of the Elliots, owners and inheritors of the grand, but decaying Kellynch Hall.  Her parents have clearly not used their money as wisely as they might, and are advised by wily family friend and ‘lawyer’ Mrs Russell, that they should ‘downsize’ and let the grand house.  And so it is that they head for provincial Bath.  (Oh, how Austen and the Elliots would have loved it, that Bath today is one of England’s most sought after cities – it certainly did not appear so 200 years ago when this novel was written!)  

Kind, unassuming Anne has been sent to her sister’s family (husband and two children) to soften the blow of this impending move, where she finds herself taken for granted as nanny to the children and container for her sister’s many hysterical outbursts.  But she is reunited with the dashing and eligible Captain Wentworth to whom she had been engaged eight years earlier, but whose hand in marriage she had been persuaded to break off by the ‘ever influential’  Mrs Russell. 

And so we follow the twists and turns of the romance between Wentworth and Anne.  However, we are in an Austen world where the struggles of women who have very little control over their lives without a dashing young man at their side, and the expression of their passions is shrouded in all pervading etiquette, so nothing is simple.   Suffice to say that all ends happily, but not without the reflection of eight lost years, which must have seemed an eternity in Austen’s times.  

Adapting an Austen novel into a manageable piece of theatre can’t be easy and I applaud Dawn Bush for this accessible and entertaining piece; with enough of the original book for aficionados to be satisfied, but easily followed for others.  I loved the scenes towards the end between Anne and her brother-in-law Charles, which I imagine are influenced heavily by the original text when they reflect on the different roles of man and women.    Austen had ideas and opinions way before her time and it made me want to go to the original – a true complement as one whose Austen reading has possibly never gone beyond the first few pages of Pride and Prejudice!

This was a slick and fast-paced production and, as it is at the end of a UK tour, mostly small venues, and some outdoors, it has had time to bed in and establish itself.  Every character is played by five actors, one of whom acts as Anne Elliot throughout and her story is nicely narrated in retrospect.  One actor also plays Captain Wentworth and the other three performers work hard at costume changes and nicely drawn characterisation to play all the other characters, from meddling Mrs Russell to the various suitors and sisters. 

Although it does not claim to be a physical production, I felt that some of physical theatre that they incorporated really added to the sense of place, and gave the piece dimension.  For example, the ship when describing life in the Navy; and the accident that Louisa Musgrove has in Lyme Regis.  I would happily have seen more of this.  And it also felt right that much of the physicality and the movement was semi-stylised, which fitted with Austen’s life and times, and the script.  I was less sure about the occasional interjection by various actors, out of character, wondering ‘which scene they were in’.  This may well be so given the pace of the production and the speed of some of the character changes, but it didn’t happen often enough to be a running gag.  Although it may have been introduced for humour, the writing didn’t need it, and soon the play and adaptation took on a life of its own. 

I liked Susie Garvey Williams’ sensitive portrayal of Anne, finding a nice balance between accepting her apparent place in the pecking order, but never self-pitying, and staying her own woman to the end.  All the other characters were ably played by Holly Baynes, Matthew Burcombe, Sophie Todd, and Dom Thomson (as the suitable eligible bachelor Captain Wentworth).  As a touring production the set was inevitably simple but the performances and the costumes absolutely made up for that.

Well done to Pete Gallagher and DOT Productions for this accessible and really well executed adaptation – it will have appealed to summer audiences and deserves to have good audiences at the Tabard in Chiswick for its final few weeks.

Claire Alexander, September 2023

Photography courtesy of DOT Productions