Persuasion is an enjoyable modern take on classic Jane Austen novel – review
We’re always fans of productions that do the unconventional, and Persuasion – Jeff James and James Yeatman’s modern adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel of the same name – could hardly be described as traditional.
With a soundtrack featuring Lizzo, Cardi B and Dua Lipa, and one particularly memorable scene reframed as a foam party, it’s a high energy show with plenty of fun moments.
It also manages to remain surprisingly faithful to its source material. There are some genuinely very amusing gags. Observations are wittily reinterpreted – notions that Bath is a city blighted by modern architecture, or that travelling 17 miles is a very long way, may well have been true two centuries ago but seem pretty absurd nowadays.
Other choices work less well – our protagonist Anne (Sasha Frost) deals with her problems by literally pushing them off the back of the stage.
