Unceremoniously uprooted from her humble family home, intelligent young Fanny Price is dropped into the bustling, aristocratic household of her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, where she finds herself buffeted from one crisis to the next in the company of her cousins and their well-to-do friends. Yet throughout this turmoil one thing remains a constant – her love for the generous, worthy and steadfast Edmund Bertram. Read more …
But will this love be her salvation? Or will she be forced to marry the charismatic Henry Crawford for connections and wealth alone?
Can Fanny triumph over her adoptive family’s demands and follow her heart to acquire the husband and life she so desires and deserves?
Written by Tim Luscombe, whose other acclaimed Austen adaptations include Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, and directed by Colin Blumenau, Mansfield Park is a must-see for lovers of Jane Austen, and indeed all classic drama, from the country’s last remaining Regency Theatre.
In the end, the concentration on plot at the expense of some of the depths of the story means that it is all a little frothy when it should be barbed. Which makes for a curious flatness to the production; it is all very functional, and entirely satisfactory, but it never really takes flight.
It’s a near-impossibility to compress so many pages into a couple of hours, and the play feels at once a bit rushed and a bit long. But with humour, dancing, gorgeous costumes (shout-out to Heidi Mcevoy-Swift and Nicola Stacey), and well-loved and well-rendered characters, it’s an enjoyable night out for Austen fans.
There’s an almost-Midsummer Night’s Dream element of farce in Tim Luscombe’s adaptation, which does well to draw out the sharp wit and astute social observations Austen makes through her characters.
King's Theatre, Edinburgh from Tuesday November 5, 2013, until Saturday November 9, 2013. More info: http://www.edtheatres.com/kings
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