Mansfield Park

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Yesterday I went to see a new adaptation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park for the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds. This is going to be a challenge, I thought. A four-hundred page book by one of the wittiest writers I know featuring a largely internalising heroine that takes me well over a day to read even knowing it so well - distilled into a two hour stage play.

But it was BRILLIANT.

A very few characters had melted away, a lot of thinking had been précised down into salient-point speeches, but what was left was pure, rich, essence of Austen. In a lot of ways, the very paring down of the text brought out the humour in the book. It certainly contributed to an instant identification of who each character was and what they were like.

Mr Rushworth declaiming

With a very clever, elegant set designed to suggest the Georgian era, the play flowed effortlessly from one scene to the next. The actors brought masses of energy and realism to their roles and I believed in each and every one of them. One of the lovely things was that the parts had necessarily to be doubled now and then, and it was evident how much the actors really enjoyed the light relief of portraying the raucous, shambolic Portsmouth household for a few scenes after the intense, restrained Mansfield Park itself.

Fanny Price

I can only applaud the stupendous acting from all concerned, the sympathetic direction of Colin Blumenau and the writer of the adaptation, Tim Luscombe. I didn't want the evening to end.

All in all, this was a fantastic production - it's on tour later this autumn, so go and see it if you possibly can.
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Off at a party

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Today is the first of the month, so I am over at Historical Romance UK talking about one of my very favourite places, the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds.

William Wilkins (1778-1839)

As yesterday was the birthday of William Wilkins, architect, theatre proprietor and all-round control-freak, the post is about his present to the town - and how it nearly went horribly wrong.

Happy birthday for yesterday, WW.
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Lunchbox theatre!

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Bored with sandwiches? Try something different at lunchtime - like going to a play!

At the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds all this week, the Little Bear Theatre Company are putting on a compressed 50-minute version of the five act Georgian play A Bold Stroke for a Husband.

Waiting for the actors

It was thoroughly enjoyable - a lot faster and more furious than Hannah Cowley intended, but just as funny and very accessible indeed. I did miss the leisurely setting of the scene and the asides to the audience which are a prominent feature of Georgian theatre, but as a cultural lunchbox, this stylish, snappy (and very clever) performance is hard to beat.

Well done all - I look forward to the next adaptation.
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Crashes and bangs

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Quick blog post today to remind myself to do it more regularly.

Lovely presentation yesterday at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds on the famous Mr McCready's four-day visit to the theatre back in 1826. There were tiny scenes throughout capturing the goings on at the theatre (he was rather forthright on the subject of provincial acting, but didn't object to trousering the profits from the plays), and also a talk on special effects, Georgian style.

This is a reproduction wind machine - a beautiful thing made of wood and canvas. When I turned the handle it sounded rather like a sick banshee, but in the hands of a professional it produced everything from a gentle zephyr to a full-blown storm. There was also a thunder sheet. Interestingly, the term "stealing my thunder" came from an actor whose own tempestuous play folded, was replaced by Macbeth complete with storm scene, and the actor complained very loudly that the Scottish play had - quite literally - stolen his thunder.

And this is a star-trap for those beloved sudden appearances. Or occasionally not - they were famed for often being real star traps, with the actor being pinioned firmly around their middle!

The Rent Day

I went to see another rehearsed reading in the Restoring The Repertoire series this evening - this one was The Rent Day by Douglas Jerrold, first performed in 1832.

Fabulous stuff! A lovely rounded boisterous drama in two acts. Just enough comedy to make the tragedy stark and real - and subtle propaganda to the audience not to gamble their inheritance away, thus ruining their tenant farmers back at home on the estate.

I love these rehearsed readings put on by the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds. The actors only open the scripts at 10 o'clock that morning - and are giving a performance full of enthusiasm, insight and simple joy-in-acting at 7 in the evening. Long may you run, guys!
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"He's Much To Blame"

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Oooh! I do like a nice revival!

Steeping myself as I am in Regency theatre research for the Work In Progress, I was overjoyed to open the latest Theatre Royal brochure and discover that the main Restoring the Repertoire play this Autumn is He's Much To Blame by Thomas Holcroft.

Holcroft was one of a band of radical thinkers who sought to change people's opinion by means of incorporating telling scenes and speeches into his plays. Very witty and sharply executed, a lot of the exchanges on stage are as true today as they were 200 years ago. Billed at the time as a comedy, He's Much To Blame (first performed in 1798, but they'd still have been putting it on in the Regency era) nevertheless produces moments of stark tragedy designed to make the audience stop and think.

So what's the story? Maria has come to town disguised as a man in order to prevent her brother (Delavel) and her erstwhile suitor (George Versatile) from fighting a duel. George had been going to marry Maria until he was suddenly taken rich and had his head turned by Society.

George has now fallen in with Lord and Lady Vibrate and their celebrity German doctor Gosterman. Versatile by nature as well as by name, he has lost his own true self in making himself pleasant to everybody and has apparently forgotten the love he left behind. Lady Vibrate (who lives only for pleasure) wishes him to marry her daughter Jane. Jane, however, is in love with Delavel.

And - as could only happen in a play - all of them are now staying in the same hotel!

The Bury St Edmunds production was an absolute joy, and as I had secured a seat in the box right on the stage again, I felt as if I had slid not only into the past, but also into the play itself.

And on Monday the cast is taking a day off(!) to do a rehearsed reading of Holcroft's comedy The Road To Ruin. I am a very happy Regency writer.
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Warning - electrical fault

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My car has one of those delightful intermittent faults which brings up a scary orange light right in the middle of the dashboard. Every time this happens the car and I go into the garage where they clear the fault, speculate interestedly about what might be causing it and tell me to come back next time it occurs. A couple of times it has been a real fault entailing the changing of various expensive parts. Even if it doesn't cost money - it always involves loss of time.

This time, however, the garage decided Action Was Needed (possibly they were getting fed up with me plugging Nymph into their power supply, using their free wifi and drinking all their tea). They stripped the engine down ("No cost, Mrs Jones") and found - a broken wire.

Sadly, it seems wires don't get mended any more, they get replaced. The entire wire loom gets replaced. At a cost of £150+.

While my car was being investigated, the garage driver ran me into Bury St Edmunds for an excellent lecture at the Theatre Royal on the Georgian playwright Thomas Holcroft and picked me up again afterwards. Then (as my car was in pieces) he took me home. Tomorrow he is going to collect me, drop me off at the Records Office for a lecture on the Georgian Gentleman's Library and pick me up after a matinee of He's Much To Blame by the said Thomas Holcroft at the theatre.

"There," said the service receptionist. "At least we've saved you the parking fee."

To park in Bury St Edmunds all day costs £1.80 !!!
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A Georgian Gem of a Day

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Lovely research day on Thursday in lovely Georgian Bury St Edmunds.

First was a lecture in the Guildhall on the problems of directing Georgian plays for a modern-day audience. This was given by Colin Blumenau (the artistic director of the Theatre Royal BStE) whose enthusiasm for the repertoire of the Georgian era just spills out of him. At several points during his talk I thought "Ahh, right!" and "Yes, of course!". As my Newmarket-Regency-in-progress revolves around a certain touring company, this will come in very useful.

Next it was off to meet my good friend Elaine to show her the Subscription Rooms (where we spent some time being Lost In Austen)

and then up to the Market Cross art gallery which used to be the theatre before the Theatre Royal was built in 1819.




Then in the evening we went to the Theatre Royal itself to watch a rehearsed reading of The Wolf and The Lamb (a one-act farce by Wilks and enormous fun). I cannot BELIEVE these guys had only had one day to rehearse this. They were fabulous! After the interval came Katie Bonna's The Celebrated Mrs Inchbald, in which Katie very cleverly shows key moments in Elizabeth Inchbald's life. Inchbald was a very witty playwright (who just happened to have been born near Bury St Edmunds) who believed in reform by stealth. Certainly her work changed people's opinions in a rather more peaceful way than radical revolution!

I had said to Elaine earlier that in the interests of research, I'd chosen seats in the end box right on the apron of the stage itself. It proved to be a brilliant place, so close to the action and really making me feel part of the period.

Roll on the next 'Restoring The Repertoire' offering from the Theatre Royal!
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