Jane Austen's
Sense & Sensibility
Adapted by Jessica Swale
July 20th - July 30th 2016
Directed By Louise Farmer
Sense & Sensibility is one of Jane Austen's best loved novels. It was written in 1811.
Jessica Swale adapted the novel into a play and directed it in 2014 at The Watermill Theatre.
It is a charming story of the Dashwoods who are forced out of their home after their father died leaving all of his fortune to a male heir, his son John by his first marriage.
John's wife, Fanny, played by Liz Webster, was a nasty piece of work and declaired that the Dashwoods needed to leave their beloved Norland Park and they ended up in a cold Devonshire Cottage which was kindly offered to them by Sir John Middleton (Andy Jones). Mrs Jennings, played by Jill Simkins made it her mission to marry the three Dashwood girls off and it's not long before a dashing Mr Willoughby, played with charm by Matt Cotter appeared on the scene to capture the heart of Marrianne Dashwood who was depicted by Stephanie Evans as a girl who lives for the moment and wears her heart well and truly on her sleeve. Her sweet nature and lovely singing voice also captured the heart of Colonel Brandon, nicely played by Sam Evans. His portrayal of the overshadowed love interest was delicately displayed. We also had 2 further Dashwood children, Elinor, the oldest of the three who kept her love for Edward Ferrars (Tomas Frater) hidden after she discovered that he was already promised to Lucy Steele (Libby Allport).
Elinor was played by Rachel Holmes and she gave a touching portrayal of a girl with far too much on her young shoulders. Her scenes with Edward were delicately portrayed and both gave some very touching portrayals.
Sam Allen gave a strong performance as Mrs Dashwood, the wife left with out a husband, fortune or home. Her expressions throughout told a thousand stories.
Katie Allen was a delight as the youngest Dashwood Daughter, Margaret. Her innocent, funny, full of life performance was touching and extremely entertaining.
One character to mention was Mr Palmer, played by Dan Payne. His glum, dry one liners captured the moment brilliantly and the audience couldn't help but laugh every time he opened his mouth or gave a knowing glance.
The show is full of pace and humour. There is a nice distinction between light and shade and Louise Farmer has directed this piece well.
Lighting depicted the different times of day well and the set worked well with different locations from rooms to outdoors.
The only slight flaw in the performance had to be the scene changes. The show has many scenes and changes in venue and it did slow the production down slightly. This was opening night though so there was time for the changes to quicken up and also to be a little less noisy.
Overall, this was a well put together production and is well worth going to see.
The show runs until 30th July 2016
