In an age where turning the pages of a novel is challenged by e-readers and storytelling by audiobooks, English author Gill Hornby and American-born British conductor and composer Carl Davis’ delightfully entwined work, Pride and Prejudice: An Adaptation in Words and Music, is a refreshing reminder of the joy of live performance and rare public storytelling.
English author Jane Austen’s early 19th-century classic, Pride and Prejudice – one of the most popular novels in English literature with over 20 million copies sold – has seen a lengthy list of adaptations across film, television, theatre and literature.
In an abridged version of Austen’s early 1813-published novel and matched with snippets of mood-appropriate classical music, Hornby and Davis’ original one-hour work premiered in the UK in 2017 to celebrate the bicentenary of Austen’s death.
In its current incarnation by Australian director Tyran Parke, the work has been expanded to include a contextually informative preface that explores the music accompanying the subsequent narration – music that would have filled the drawing rooms and ballrooms of Regency England where future matches and marriages were hoped for and plotted.
Across its 90 neatly balanced minutes and complimented by a generous sprinkling of humour, the results are hugely entertaining.
In the first part, effervescent violinist Madeleine Easton and accomplished classical pianist Dan Le share the music of the period before a sensibly streamlined transition to the second part, in which acclaimed Australian actor Nadine Garner makes her much anticipated entrance.
Easton and Le open the performance with Davis’ theme music to the popular 1995 television mini-series adaptation fans will be familiar with. The beauty, vitality and expressive qualities impress.
Not only a fine violinist, Easton has the natural gift of public speaking. Effortlessly magnetising her audience while explaining the music’s period influence and providing insightful commentary about its context, Easton makes an unforgettable mark with her witty delivery. What was that about Regency dating being something of a cross between a Tinder swipe and a job interview? Brilliantly put!
Parts of a Schubert Sonatina, a Beethoven sonata and one of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words are woven by Easton and Le into Austen’s world, outlining the symbiosis of art and reason through superb musicianship.
From the moment Garner takes the stage, the tactics at play to secure the right match and subsequent roller-coaster relationship between Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Bennet, the daughter of a country gentleman, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a wealthy aristocratic landowner, are narrated and acted out pricelessly.
Endearingly animated and well-equipped to embody each of her featured characters with spirited fearlessness, Garner brings a posh but playful air to her narrator. Darting eyes, raised eyebrows, wry smiles and second looks all add to the engagement she makes to whet her audience’s appetite and keep minds busy.
Garner’s rendition of the hideous William Collins’ and his marriage proposal to Lizzie is undoubtedly the show’s hilarious highlight while demonstrating Garner’s lightning-quick character exchanges.
Other terrific moments include Lizzie’s first visit to Darcy’s Pemberley Estate – awed by its architecture and scale and encountering the Cockney servant girl who has nothing but praise for Darcy – poor Lizzie’s despondency over her regret for rejecting Darcy’s first marriage proposal and Darcy’s later quite odd and almost clumsy admission of his love for Lizzie.
Concluding with Mrs Bennet’s jubilance that her daughters are married and signalling that all concerns have evaporated, Garner turns and leaves through a portal, having given a masterclass performance.
Easton and Le’s musical accompaniment is perfectly descriptive but there are moments when concentrating on Garner’s words is made difficult – especially when the music is so gorgeously melodic or if one is perhaps familiar with the pieces.
Visually, the three performers are stationed in a stylised Regency drawing room with grand piano, elaborate sofa, writing desk and a couple of music stands before a backdrop of hotchpotch paintings on a flat black wall.
One of its two picture-less frames becomes a neat stage device behind which Garner takes herself momentarily but designer Mikailah Looker’s set is otherwise unremarkable. A little more coziness would go a long way.
Better considered, however, is Matthew Tunchon’s subtle lighting shifts and Garner’s masculine-leaning attire of long velvet coat, vest and riding boots which allows her the flexibility needed in rendering her characters.
Nothing, however, could take away the pleasure of being told a story in the company of others while igniting that instinctual desire to connect through its spell. Familiar or not with Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice: An Adaptation in Words and Music will ignite so much more with its wafting charm and excellence.
Pride and Prejudice: An Adaptation in Words and Music
Fairfax Studio – Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
Performance: Friday 27 September 2024
Season continues to 6 October 2024
Information and Bookings: www.artscentremelbourne.com.au
Images: Nadine Garner in Pride and Prejudice: An Adaptation in Words and Music – photo by Robert Catto | Madeleine Easton in Pride and Prejudice: An Adaptation in Words and Music – photo by Robert Catto | Nadine Garner in Pride and Prejudice: An Adaptation in Words and Music – photo by Robert Catto
Review: Paul Selar