Kate Hamill’s sparkling adaptation of Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen on theatrical steroids. In the hands of the State Theatre Company Ensemble it will be a night at the theatre that you won’t want to miss.
The newly widowed Mrs Dashwood, under much reduced circumstances, must move herself and her three daughters, the very sensible Elinor, the wild romantic Marianne and the spirited Margaret, from their grand family home to a modest cottage. But reduced social circumstances do not lead to a reduction in troubles of the heart. Suitors circle and gossip swirls as all of the Dashwoods try to find their place in the world.
Jane Austen’s masterpiece is a precision guided literary missile of wit and warmth. In playwright Kate Hamill she’s found her theatrical match as verve and invention is brought to bear on the Dashwood’s every move.