[2015125] Promise and Promiscuity: A New Musical by Jane Austen and Penny Ashton
Penny Ashton @ Holden Street Theatres – The Arch
6:30pm, Sat 7 Mar 2015
I last saw one of Penny Ashton’s Austen-inspired shows way back in 2010; I was somewhat surprised to discover that it was so long ago, so fresh was it in my mind. Even then it was apparent that her fascination with the work on Jane Austen – combined with her own comic delivery, delightful Kiwi witticisms, and penchant for injecting corseted smut into romantic fiction – appealed to a certain audience.
And so it was that The Arch was packed this evening… and my orange hair was like a beacon in a sea of grey hair and expectant smiles.
Ashton plays a plethora of Austen-esque characters in Promise and Promiscuity, each with their own accents and mannerisms. The central heroine, booksmart Elspeth Slowtree, is in constant conflict with most of the other characters: her mother, anxious to marry her off, and the advances of her cousin Horatio are the brunt of much of Elspeth’s ire, but so is much of the nineteenth-century setting: Ashton sets her up as an intelligent (“…for a girl”) protagonist, permitting her battle with societal norms of the day.
But modern references within Elspeth’s world also create a lot of laughs: there’s a lot made of modern sexual freedoms, a few quirky name-drops (etiquette teacher Kimberline Kardashian?), and even a spot of Bon Jovi… within a classical setting. It’s all very silly, and very well assembled…
…but it didn’t really work for me. And only me, judging by the continuous laughter in the room. I suspect that my lack of intimacy with Jane Austen’s work is responsible for that; I certainly appreciated Ashton’s craft, and could sense that there was a lot of fun to be derived from her deconstruction of Austen’s tropes, but without deep knowledge of those tropes I was left a little cold.
Ashton has made a career of these Austen-inspired, innuendo-laden shows… and she’s bloody good at it. And, judging by the audiences that I’ve seen at her shows, there’s tons of Austen fans that agree… The Arch rumbled with applause at the end of her performance this evening. But, given my lack of knowledge of Jane Austen’s work (and a general disinterest in the romantic fiction of her era), I’m just not that sure that I have the background to share that delight.
(125) Promise and Promiscuity- A New Musical by Jane Austen and Penny Ashton: Quote-, humour-, & pun-laden ode to Austen. #ff2015 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) March 7, 2015