by Deirdre Shields
seen at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford on 15 March 2026
Judy Reaves directs Juliet Stevenson and Rachel Parris, with violinist Dave Le Page and cellist Nick Stringfellow, in an engaging entertainment using excerpts from Jane Austen's novels (except Northanger Abbey) and from letters between her and her sister Cassandra and some other correspondents. The aim is to cover Austen's life while giving an insight into her preoccupations and her outlook (so far as it can be deduced from literary sources).
Austen's prose is so poised and eloquent that it is a sheer pleasure just to listen to it and to enjoy the various barbs and surprises sprung upon the listener. The excerpts from the novels are neatly dovetailed into the glimpses of her personal life, showing how her own experiences nourished her imagination and were cunningly employed to create her fictions. For "Janeites" the pleasure must be familiar; for the rest, the fuss may seem to be overblown.
The musicians provided a witty commentary on the proceedings, rendering some very modern tunes in an early nineteenth-century manner as domestic chamber music.
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