Austen Power
Emma
Old Fire Station, 23 May - 27 May
It is a truth universally acknowledged that bringing a writer of such subtlety as Jane Austen to the stage is never going to be easy. And in fairness to all those involved in Ashleigh Nguyen’s production of Emma it could have been a lot worse. In the main this is a fine stab, if indebted to the BBC school of period drama, with some excellent casting — especially in the crucial roles of Emma, Mr Elton and Mr Knightley.
The major problem for any director is that many of Emma’s finest moments are in the narration rather than the dialogue. Nguyen’s approach to the problem is to literally bring the author to the stage, in the guise of a narrator. It is a brave experiment, but sadly one which goes horribly wrong.
Julie Vatain is a very good actress, and to her credit she does the best she can with the role she has been given, but all the talent in the world will not make up for the fact that this is hopeless miscasting in a role which should not even have featured. You have to admire the team’s willingness to take on such a difficult project and their inventiveness in dealing with the problems which arise but, as is the nature with innovation, it can be a bit unpleasant to watch when things go wrong.
Other equally small but grating problems arise elsewhere, especially the bizarre inclusion of a fan dance. Importantly though, these minor gripes only stand out because of the overall achievement of the production. Each of the actors seem to have really got to the heart of their characters, playing them with the right measure of pomposity and absurdity.
So well observed are the performances that Emma’s early busybodying really feels quite Machiavellian, yet we are brought round to like her in the end. To come even close to faithfully representing a three volume novel in the comparatively short time afforded by a play is impressive. Pedantic Austen fans with a vision of how things should be may wish to avoid this.
18th May 2006