REVIEW: PERSUASION at Theatre at the Tabard 12 September – 7 October 2023

‘With only five characters, this adaptation loses some of Austen’s emotional impact, but is deftly and entertainingly done.’ ★★★

Dawn Bush’s adaptation of Persuasion is running in parallel with the Chiswick Book Festival, and

the full audience was ample proof of Austen’s enduring appeal. As the last story the Regency star

wrote before her death, Persuasion has an interesting reputation. Literary critics praise it for its

maturity and subtlety, its psychological depth and level-headed characters. Yet—or perhaps

precisely because of this—its quotes and characters have never reached the cultural

phenomenon status of Pride & Prejudice or Emma. Adults (mostly) acting like adults, making (largely)

logical choices and (generally) not holding long grudges for any misunderstandings?

That’s realistic, but maybe less fun than the drama of bubbling hormones and angry letter-writing that

Austen’s younger characters stir up.

With her adaptation, however, Bush has gone the opposite route: She has highlighted the satire,

made the “bad” people worse, the “good” people better, and leaned into slap-stick comedy and

audience address to get us through plot tangles, long lists of characters and the trickiness of

pulling all of this off with only five actors. The result loses some of Austen’s emotional impact, but

is deftly and entertainingly done.

As the central couple, Susie Garvey Williams and Dom Thomson are the only ones allowed to

stick to a single character. Garvey Williams narrates Anne’s story, that of a woman convinced, at

age 19, to give up the man she loved and now, eight years later, deeply regretting her choice. This

narrative structure underlines Anne’s practicality and clear-headedness, while allowing her the

occasional wry wink (“Oh I remember now. It’s a flashback.”).

But it’s the multi-roling ensemble that seems to be having the most fun, whirling on and off stage,

throwing on and discarding layers of Regency clothing, switching wigs, popping over and around

set pieces to ask where the hell they’re supposed to be, and why does everyone look so similar?

Matthew Burcombe regularly smashes through any remaining remnants of theatrical illusion, and

Sophie Todd admirably juggles both the most and least sympathetic side characters. Holly

Baynes gives the stand-out performance of the night as Anne’s spoiled little sister Mary, pouting

and swooning and forgetting her children’s names.

The fun of all of this comes at the expense of emotional complexity and plot tension: For example,

the book’s major rival to Anne’s affections is reduced to a stock-villain gag, guilty not only (as in

the original) of being a calculating egotist, but here responsible for out-and-out robbing his best friend,

driving him to suicide and running off with Anne’s father’s crush. The book’s crimes of

persuasion are made crimes of fact, which runs a bit counter to the theme.

Still, pulling off a 20+-character story with a cast of five, in a touring model, makes changes inevitable—

and the audience left this version smiling.

Presented by DOT Productions

PERSUASION at Theatre at the Tabard, Chiswick 12 September – 7 October 2023

Box Office https://tabard.org.uk/whats-on/persuasion/

Cast

Susie Garvey Williams as Anne Elliot

Dom Thomson as Frederick Wentworth

Matthew Burcombe as Sir Walter Elliot, Charles Musgrove, Admiral Croft, Captain Benwick

Sophie Todd as Janet Smith, Louisa Musgrove, Elizabeth Elliot

Holly Baynes as Nurse Rooke, Mary Elliot, Mrs. Croft, Lady Russell, Mr. Elliot

By Jane Austen, adapted for the stage by Dawn Bush

Reviewed by Anna Clart