Regency romp sprinkles magic into era
Promise and Promiscuity by Jane Austen and Penny Ashton, direction Ben Chowder, music Robbie Ellis, Centrepoint Theatre, Palmerston North, September 12-23.
What a deliciously deft daft dizzy delight this show is. Penny Ashton’s solo immersion in the Regency world of Jane Austen is a 75-minute-long magic moment.
Borrowing not only from the vibe of the era, but also ‘‘sampling’’ directly from Austen’s famous books, Ashton plunges headlong into this period musical comedy’s social whirl and its cornucopia of characters.
The concept is cute, the clever writing is loaded with literary and contemporary tropes, while the action is artfully realised by Ashton’s energetic portrayals, facial expressions and vocal performances.
Attractive spinster of two-and-20 years Elspeth Slowtree, her ditzy sister Cordelia and widowed drama-queen mother Millicent live in rural Palmerstonnorthshire.
Down on their luck since the Great Nutmeg Crash of 1808, they survive at Little Cocks Cottage courtesy of condescending charity from dowager Lady Wrexham.
Elspeth, who rejects the notion of women as simple giddy male accessories, secretly contributes to the household finances as author Wilbur Smythe. Fifty Shades of Arrr, her serialised pirate saga about the search for the treasure of Don Trumpelstiltskin, is creating a stir among local newspaper readers.
Lady Wrexham holds a ball – cue a cantering quadrille of cascading double entendre – at Quigley Manor, where our heroine attracts the attention of the dashing but slightly caddish Reginald Wrexham.
Both, as it happens, are fans of the poets Elvis Prestwick and William Joel, whose words, along with those of other well-known bards, and the etiquette manual of Kimberline Kardashian, are also ‘‘sampled’’.
However, on her way to finding true love and acceptance, Elspeth must fend off the attentions of her ghastly snorting malapropismspouting cousin Horatio.
There’s eye-fluttering competition from the lisping simpering Thomasina Jeggins and the aloof intellectual snobbery of Digby Dalton to deal with. How will matters end?
There’s no need to be an Austen fan to appreciate this rollicking Regency romp, which succeeds in making the world of 200 years ago seem like only this morning.