The Complete Works of Jane Austen (Abridged) review by Rosana Bouzas

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that three performers in possession of Jane Austen’s complete works, must be in want of considerably more than a sixty-minute time-slot. Written by Jessica Bedford, Kathryn MacMillan, Charlotte Northeast, and Meghan Winch, The Complete Works of Jane Austen (Abridged) mines this impossible premise for comedy, but it’s the affection running through the script that gives it real heart. Producer-director Ali Bendall handles the breakneck pace with assurance, without ever losing the warmth that makes the show so appealing.

When one of three devoted Austen enthusiasts, or Janeites, fails to appear for a performance, Peter (Peter Hoekstra-Bass), who knows virtually nothing about Austen, is hastily recruited to play “all the men”. Now, Ali (Bendall) and Georgia (Georgia Britt) must bring him up to speed. What follows is a hilarious, whimsical romp through Austen’s novels that is unexpectedly sweet and clearly understands both the sharp irony that makes them funny and the devotion they continue to inspire.

Much of the fun comes from how little the production needs to populate Austen’s world. Hats and bonnets do more than identify characters: once donned, they seem to take possession of the performers, whose posture, voice and gesture change with them. Hoekstra-Bass is particularly deft at differentiating Austen’s men through small physical details, from Darcy’s assured bearing to Knightley’s tightly clenched fist of jealousy. Bendall, meanwhile, turns the joke back on the Janeite, collapsing to the floor while rhapsodising over Darcy in a fond send-up of fangirl devotion. Lighting, sound and a few simple staging choices give the individual novels their own character without ever slowing things down. For a show moving at speed, it’s remarkably easy to follow.

Trevor’s ignorance gives Austen newcomers someone to travel with, but his outsider status also allows the production to tease fandom culture without making the fans themselves the joke. When Trevor’s own enthusiasms collide with Austen’s work, suddenly he has quite a lot in common with the Janeites: both know imaginary worlds in obsessive detail and find community in loving them. The easy chemistry between Bendall, Britt and Hoekstra-Bass makes that enthusiasm feel shared.

Beneath all the speed and silliness is a question about why readers keep returning to Austen. From the outset, Ali champions Pride and Prejudice while Georgia defends Persuasion, providing an early source of comic tension. Yet both return us to a pervasive Austen ideal that remains strikingly contemporary: the marriage plot is about more than simply finding a husband. Austen’s heroines must learn what – and whom – to value.

Britt brings a gentle melancholy to Georgia’s preference for Persuasion, and for a moment the production’s earlier exuberance settles into something quieter and more personal. But the capricious friction between the Janeites has faded so far into the background by then, that its later importance feels a little underprepared. It’s a small weakness, though, and the tenderness of the scene still lands.

In its closing moments, the production turns the playfulness used to summon Austen’s fictional world towards the author herself. The props and transformations that have driven the comedy suddenly carry a different weight, and as the frantic pace falls away, we are left thinking about the woman behind the stories and the enduring legacy of her words.

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Rosana Bouzas attended The complete Works of Jane Austen (Abridged) at QTOPIA Sydney on Thursday 3 September.