🍷🍷🍷🍷 – 4 glasses of fine claret!
The Theatre at The Tabard continues its reputation for fine acting with its current production, Pursasion. By Jane Austen, adapted for the stage by Dawn Bush.
A loose adaptation of the novel by Jane Austen, it deals with seven years in the life of Anne Elliot; at first a sweet nineteen-year-old persuaded by an influential friend to call off her engagement to the penniless Frederick Wentworth. Seven years later we reencounter the two characters through an unexpected meeting of an unhappy but still sweet Miss Elliot, spinster – and the also unhappy but no longer penniless Captain Wentworth. Along the way, we meet the self-centred Lady Musgrove, Nurse Rooke, Lady Russell, Mary Musgrove, Mrs Croft and the moustached William Elliot. Also Janet Smith, Elizabeth Elliot, Louisa Musgrove, Sir Walter Elliot, Charles Musgrove, Admiral Croft and Captain Benwick.
Sound confusing? Well, it is a little. Some of the original characters from Austen have been culled in this adaptation by Dawn Bush and maybe we could have lost a few more. It means at the start of the production there was a slight lack of clarity – is this a rom or a com? We find out quite soon it’s a romcom. And a rather good one too!
And it’s only a slight blemish on an otherwise clear-skinned, blushing, square-jawed, broad-shouldered production. There are some great comments on male and female roles in society and… well… Persuasions! The young acting cast is universally brilliant and there’s not a weak link. There are some great physical performances and the kiss at the end is worth watching out for! The costumes and set are simple but sumptuous and you shouldn’t need to be persuaded to get down the Tabard before this little gem by touring outfit DOT Productions finishes. Or goes to Bath! (You’ll need to see the show to understand this..!)
Tickets: Performances 14 to 30 September £23.50/£19.50 concessions; Final week £25.50/£21.50 concessions.
The production lasts for 1 hour 45 minutes and has a 20-minute interval.
You can book all productions online on the Tabard Theatre website or call the box office on 020 8995 6035 (leave a message if you can’t get through and your call will be returned).
Theatre at the Tabard is at 2 Bath Road, Chiswick (W4 1LW).
