Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Matthew Atkins, Ceri-Lyn Cissone, Siobhan Gerrard, Indigo Griffiths, Jason Ryall, Lucinda Turner.
In a past literary history that is dominated by men, many women stand above them for the sheer depth of human experience, the joy of wit, the penetration to the bones of fear and exploration of the subject; and whilst the names of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Tolstoy stand at the gates of greatness, it is too the scribes of women such as Charlotte Bronte, Agatha Christie and Jane Austen that we should acknowledge perhaps as the greater skilled writers and finer observers of the human condition.
Jane Austen’s writing reflects a time that has managed to not only capture the imagery of the world of the period in which she lived and died in, but also holds a mirror up with satisfaction to our own damaged society, one built upon false grandeur and manners of lies, and makes the two eras almost inseparable by their fashion, by the design and the realism, the social commentary and treachery that haunts her words across just a handful of novels.
There is no whisper in her words, they shout with confidence and just reward, and it is in that sense of resonating charm, of frank insight that Stephanie Dale adapts with uniqueness, the story of lost passion restored, and pride conquered in the entertaining and creatively staged, Persuasion.
You should never need persuading to see one of Jane Austen’s works adapted for the stage or screen, like Dickens, Shakespeare, Bronte or Christie, you know instinctively that the produced art will be of virtue and affirming. However, when the scenes of the play are stripped back for the stage, when the actors are given greater responsibility for creating the images of 19th Century Hampshire and the city of Bath, then the audience is left with no other way to feel the soul of the story but with immense pleasure.
With the small cast performing virtually all the major characters, there is little room for the purist or the sentimental to delve too deep into the construction of the book; that though benefits the production, it keeps it as sharp as Ms. Austen would have perhaps demanded, it makes it flow like heated mercury but never once losing the observing nature that many believe was Jane Austen’s greatest gift.
A wonderfully enjoyable performance by the six members of the cast and with Matthew Atkins and Siobhan Gerrard giving immense satisfaction in the way they utilised different character traits with great effect. There should be no need to persuade anyone to go to the Playhouse Theatre, Persuasion is its own reward.
Ian D. Hall