" I'D LOVE TO ASK THE GHOST OF JANE AUSTEN WHAT SHE REALLY THOUGHT....??!"

ABOVE is "Persuasion's" Anne Elliot...but not as we knew her for A level ( all those years ago) ...
It's the clearly talented Lara Rossi....who stars at M/CH  Royal Exchange until June 24th.....in a new adaptation of Austen's masterpiece" Persuasion"......slickly done by Jeff James with James Yeatman.

It's a bold production to say the least...with actors in bikini and trunks, frolicking in foam....THAT'S Lyme Regis as you never saw it before...
AND there are fewer gloom-ridden moments than there are in the book..in fact, lots of laughs...some perhaps unintentional? ......
AND there's some lesbian hugging.....in fact, a fair bit of hugging in general.....

BUT MOST OF ALL, whether you like it or not, this production  tears off  the stuffed shirts/corsets/hunting breeches etc...... revealing to us how Austen....via this adaptation.... always understood how characters tick, how they feel, how they react....people DON'T change fundamentally over the centuries.........
WE  will always share emotions, situations etc. with those who go before us...and those who come after us....whether in cape and poke bonnet OR glittery silvery dress and stilettos. This production gave food for thought.

WATCHED the play at 5:00 pm...a " Relaxed" performance....doors left wide open....entranced babies .....some with their yummy mummies......people walking about/eating/drinking/feeding said babes...people yelling.....laughing out loud...,,,people in wheel chairs...Everyone "allowed" to do their own thing....ALL THIS made a genuinely relaxed "feel".to proceedings......

BET Shakespeare would've loved it...ALTHOUGH I'm not ENTIRELY sure about Austen.....??! ..and I must admit I'd like to see a classic version again before long....

BEFOREHAND: A Play writing course ( under the WORDPLAY umbrella) led by the lovely poet/writer/lecturer Amanda Dalton...one of her hats is worn as Associate Director ( Education) at Royal Exchange..
Amanda  talked with us about the process of adapting for the stage...lots of juicy details to take away and gorge upon later...... .