*****

We are invited to be a fly on the wall of a Georgian Ladies dressing room where we encounter the narrator Bex Vaughan sitting at her vanity table preparing for a night out.   Perhaps the voice of the writer herself she proceeds to take several characters from the Austen’s books to enlighten the world in to the fact that women: love, hate, are jealous, can be manipulative, experience broken hearts and true passions as well as any men.

Utilising characters such as, Lizzy Bennett, Marianne Dashwood, Mrs Norris, Emma Woodhouse and many more finally returning to Lizzy Bennett for the final comments. We see the writers portrayal of women is as relevant today as it was almost 200 years ago. Cleverly written and superbly performed by Bex Vaughn, who slips from character to character with seeming ease. Each lady as different from the next as they would be in real-life. Not only has Bex to remember all her lines, the direction notes but she must prepare herself and dress herself as if for a night out at a Georgian soirée. The hand made dress created specifically for the show is a perfect copy of those from the period designed to show us just what such ladies had to go through each day.

I always comment on Guy Mastersons mastery of selecting the perfect person for the job and he has done it again.

Austen’s Women is a perfect offering for those who enjoy the theatre or just reading the literature.

*****

Austen's Women

Company: - Guy Masterson - Theatre Tours International  

Venue: -   Assembly Rooms Wildman Room  V3

Dates: -  6th  to  31st  August 2009  not 17th

Times: -  11-15  to  12-25

Fringe Programme Page: -  p181   (F13)