Persuasion

Persuasive Persuasion

Persuasion

by Jane Austen, adapted by Sarah Rose Kearns.

Q2 and BCP at The National Archives, Kew until 25^thApril

Review by Andrew Lawston

I ought to come clean, and please don’t tell my mother, but I’ve never read Persuasion. So I entered the National Archives for this Q2 and BCP co-production of Sarah Rose Kearns’s adaptation with some trepidation but an open mind. Having read pretty much everything else by Jane Austen, I was expecting a romantic tale of multiple marriages, complicated by a bounder, and in this I was of course not disappointed. If you ever find yourself in a similar position, you can always spot the dashing leading man as he’ll be the one wearing the nicest frock coat.

Persuasion stands out among Austen’s works in that her protagonist Anne Elliot is more mature, though this means she has reached the venerable age of twenty-seven. The story is effectively a second chance romance, chronicling her relationship with the gallant Captain Wentworth, with whom she broke off an engagement at the age of just nineteen.

A large cast of characters and multiple settings around south-west England makes Persuasion a tricky prospect for stage adaptation. There’s a clear choice to be made between stripping back the story and doubling up actors, or … just going for it. Happily, this production chooses the latter option, with a cast of eighteen actors, wonderful costumes, and a simple but effective set that’s enhanced cleverly by projection. With dozens of short scenes, director Harriet Muir and assistant director Jane Gough drive the story forward at pace with an enthusiastic cast, despite a few opening night jitters.

Ali May leads the cast as Anne Elliot, giving a charming performance that has the audience on her side from the opening scene at Kellynch Hall. Opposite her is David Bentley as “the gallant Captain Wentworth”, and he is indeed wearing the nicest frock coat on the stage. The two leads are well-matched and their relationship believable. Their backstory of youthful romance and broken engagement is related through a flashback, a short, silent film that’s projected on the back wall between scenes, and it was a shame that the crew couldn’t use the opportunity to make the subsequent scenery change.

Throughout the production, Anne is advised and encouraged by her godmother, Lady Russell, played with great gusto by Denise Tomlinson. Her advice is not always entirely sound to modern ears, and it’s a testament to Tomlinson’s performance that she remains a sympathetic character despite having to deliver lines like, “this could be your last chance” when Anne is called to consider an unappealing marriage.

Anne’s father, Sir Walter Elliot (a leonine David Robins) is persuaded by Mr Shepherd (Chris Hodges, shining briefly as the Elliots’ family friend and lawyer) to move to Bath to rein in his expenses, leasing Kellynch Hall to the devoted couple Admiral Croft, and Sophia Croft (Vaughan Evans and Enid Gayle, who both shine in their moments together), who happens to be the sister of “the gallant Captain Wentworth”. Anne’s sister, the somewhat unpleasant Elizabeth (Felicity Morgan, having a wonderful time) and her companion Mrs Clay (played by Liz Smith). She’s Mr Shepherd’s widowed daughter, and a potential future husband for the widowed Sir Walter (this is becoming complex) and they are much more keen on the idea than Anne.

Anne visits her much more pleasant but somewhat highly-strung sister Mary (Lily Tomlinson, getting some of the best lines and knocking them out of the park) who has married Charles Musgrove (played here by Paul Huggins as terribly affable and slightly put-upon). The Musgrove sisters Henrietta (Karen Heyworth) and Louisa (Andrea Wilkins) enter the story with force as a fun double act with huge energy.

Anne, Wentworth, and the Musgroves go on autumnal walks that are conveyed through a combination of the projection and some suitably russet-coloured set dressing, and eventually head down to Dorset to Lyme Regis, where they meet more naval folk, Malcolm McAlister’s poetic Captain James Renwick, and Darren Cheers as Wentworth’s friend, Captain Harville. BCP stalwart Annie Collenette rounds out the cast for Act One as Mrs Harville, offering up her home when Louisa takes a dramatic tumble from the sea wall.

Act Two sees even more characters added to the mix, as the oft-mentioned Mr Elliot finally appears. George Lowdell does a wonderful job of playing the inevitable Austen bounder, and Anne’s rejection or evasion of his advances is thoroughly plausible.

As events move towards their conclusion, many of the characters visit the opera, where they also meet Lady Dalrymple, a glacial Judi Phipps very much in the Lady Catherine de Bourgh mould!

Amanda Harker’s costumes are wonderful – if Wentworth has the nicest frock coat, then Captain Harville and Mr Elliot’s are at least superbly striking with their towering collars, and Sir Walter Elliot’s lavish lifestyle is signalled by his elaborate mustard yellow costume. The frocks are also all wonderful, thoroughly evoking the period.

The lighting, sound, set and photography are all immaculate, this is clearly a production into which a huge amount of passion and enthusiasm has been poured.

The script, based closely on Austen’s novel, is of course full of sparkling wit and wry commentary, delivered skilfully by the cast. There is a sense of transition, with the Napoleonic wars at an end, and naval officers having made their fortunes at sea capturing French ships. The vain Sir Walter Elliot’s distaste for sailors shows a nervousness at an upheaval in the social order that risks leaving him behind, and Anne’s climactic speech about the role of women signals at more social change on the horizon.

This production of Persuasion is an ambitious, lengthy, but deftly-delivered delight for all Austen fans, which takes the time to glory in the intricate inter-personal relationships between the characters. It’s highly recommended.

Andrew Lawston, April 2026

Photography courtesy of Q2