Review: Mansfield Park at King's Theatre

Mansfield Park

King’s Theatre

A Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds Production

★★★

The plushness of King’s Theatre is enough to transport anyone back in time, positioning us perfectly for Tim Luscombe’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s third novel, often cited as her most overlooked, Mansfield Park. Director Colin Blumenau ensures Austen’s idiosyncratic wit is not lost in its transition from page to stage, nor its classicism as we realise Austenian teenage problems are not all that different to our own.

Perhaps the reason Mansfield Park is overlooked is due to its introverted heroine Fanny Price (played by Ffion Jolly), whose journey we follow from modest beginnings to an aristocratic lifestyle at Mansfield Park with her wealthy aunt and uncle. Whilst we watch steadfast Fanny navigate her way through Elizabethan rich kid problems, messy love triangles and a play she is forced to perform in, it becomes evident that the underlying theme is the natural ability to understand oneself. A small but versatile cast features eight actors playing sixteen characters; Geoff Arnold particularly stands out, whose portrayal of the blunderingly inept Mr Rushworth is an admirable professional debut. Austen’s humour is kept alive on stage through not only Rushworth but Fanny’s sarcastic, narcissistic cousin Maria Bertram (played by Leonie Spilsbury) whose sheer brashness keeps us entertained. Jolly has to be praised for her gradual transition of meek ‘I cannot act’ Fanny from Act I to Act II’s bolder heroine who lights up once her brother returns from the Navy. However, as such an inward heroine, one would expect Fanny’s lack of dialogue to be more than justified by her almost constant presence on stage, but Jolly’s depiction could be much more alluring and definitely more emotive; her crying seems more pantomimical than period drama.

The costuming, though well suited to the characters’ personalities, was not as impressive or authentic as it should have been. The open plan arched set is simple but effective, remaining untouched throughout and allowing characters to be simultaneously inside and outside, as well as helping to change scenes by a simple walk through the framing; though, had more attention to detail been paid, the set and the use of more props could have given the performance more of a historical feel. Intimate duologues are highlighted perfectly by a single spotlight and the lighting generally works well, matching the tone of the performance. Overall, the performance is akin to the novel, even featuring some of the same dialogue, and though we can still appreciate Austen’s humour, the emotion and intimacies of the novel are trampled over by vanity. Blumenau doesn’t entirely lose the game, but if he did, it wouldn’t be from lack of striving for it.


Riona Doherty
The Student