15 – 22 March

At a talk given at the Bodleian Library by Professor Kathryn Sutherland, Senior Research Fellow in English at St Anne’s College, Oxford, following the acquisition of the original manuscript of The Watsons, she described Jane Austen’s unfinished novel not only as a repository of classic Austen ingredients, but also as marking “a turning point in her writing… an experiment in turning fiction into life and life into fiction.”

Playing with the idea of the book as portal, playwright Laura Wade has fashioned not only a resolution to the characters suspended in the 7,000-word abandoned novel, but has held a mirror up to her own experience as a writer, cleverly weaving herself in and out of the plot.

The fun for the audience is that we are witness to Wade’s imagined tussle with Austen’s characters as she considers the conundrum – is it the writer who is in control, or do the characters write themselves?

In a world where men are the currency and marriage the only ticket out of poverty, what is a poor girl going to do? Or is she? Wade’s play starts in classic Austen style. We meet Emma Watson (Ellie Carnaby), recently returned home after years away, having been brought up by a wealthy aunt to save the family money. She’s being prepped by her sister Elizabeth (Emaan Durrani) for a ball at which Lord and Lady Osborne are expected. There is much talk of the attractive but rakish Tom Musgrave (Ebube Chukwuma), while other potential suitors, Mr Howard (George Usher) and Captain Bertie (Joshua Hogan) hover as potential matches.

Ms Carnaby brings just the right degree of feistiness to her Emma while Oscar Gough is highly entertaining as the socially inept Lord Henry; Sam Grove and Sunny Chung exude snobbishness as Mr and Mrs Robert Watson, brother and sister-in-law from Croydon. George Usher as the earnest Mr Howard, Tom Brace-Jenkins as the bouncy young Charles Howard, Lotte Pearl as Nanny, Sasha McCabe as Margaret Watson, Odhran Grimes as Mr Watson, Osian Davies as Mr Edwards and Elise Harrison as Mrs Edwards, all combine to deliver a flawless, pacey and very witty performance.

As the character of the playwright, Laura (Molly Watton Williams), enters the fray, the tight screws of Regency etiquette start to loosen. When Austen’s narrative comes to a close, so Wade picks up the baton. What follows is a hilarious romp where the protractors start partnering off with who they really want to be with, while poor Laura starts to find the whole exercise of controlling the characters ever more vexatious, as the early nineteenth century clashes full-on with the twenty first.

Much loving attention has gone into this production. The costumes, designed by Ryan Webster and thanks to a small army of makers and assistants under supervisor Viv Sperring and visiting professional Jess Padday, are a treat, perhaps most notably the wonderfully attired Lord and Lady Osborne. Miroslaw Kusz’s simple but very effective set, comprising a Regency-styled back wall, candelabra and flowy white drapes defining the edge of the acting area, afforded good space for Director Joanna Pidcock to make the most of some complex scene changes with a large cast, culminating in a memorable tableaux-style pastiche of the Battle of Waterloo. Empathetic sound by Sol Goddard and lighting by Jacob Manston added atmosphere and a dream-like quality at times.

This was a Bristol Old Vic Theatre School production at its best and why their shows remain, and should always remain, a highlight of the Bristol dramatic calendar.

★★★★★  Simon Bishop, 16 March 2025

Photography credit: Craig Fuller