Showing @ King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 09 Nov @ 19:30

Whoever said romance is dead? Jane Austen’s social dramas remain timeless classics on bookshelves and in classrooms across the country. Identity is a social construct and in Austen’s novels, class forms the foundation of that ‘identity’. Love is the leveller, it has no prerequisites and transcends these social constructs.  Exploring the role and expectation of women in the nineteenth century, Mansfield Park tells the story of young ingénue Fanny Price, a stranger to the bourgeois aspirations of marriage and money.

At the age of 10, Fanny (Ffion Jolly) is brought from her home in Portsmouth to live with the aristocratic Bertram family. She is an outsider, often and thoroughly reminded of her humble beginnings by Aunt Norris (Julie Teal). When the Crawford’s come for an extended visit to Mansfield Park, sparks fly in all sorts of directions and Fanny finds herself stuck between what (and who) her heart desires and the expectation that she’ll marry for wealth and connections.

There’s an almost-Midsummer Night’s Dream element of farce in Tim Luscombe’s adaptation, which does well to draw out the sharp wit and astute social observations Austen makes through her characters. The script is funny, charming and self-aware. Directed by Colin Blumenau, the play is naturalistic in style, contrasting nicely with the excitable melodrama of the characters’ rehearsal for their own play – an insightful if not satirical exploration of their inner desires and intentions.

The idea that marriage is purely a political move is exemplified in Maria (Leonie Spilsbury) and wealthy Mr Rushworth’s (Geoff Arnold) relationship; Maria comes across as superficial, but it is not until after she declares her true love for Mr Crawford (Eddie Eyre) that we can see her as a product of the social elite and hollow values. Her character contrasts with Fanny’s rigid morality and belief in true love. In the end, both subvert the expectations held of them by their peers. Through love they find their identity both as wives and as women.

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