The Civility of the Spectacle: Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility

"Book-It Repertory Theatre is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming great literature into great theatre through simple and sensitive production and to inspiring its audiences to read." So reads Book-It's mission statement. The Seattle company has been striving toward these aims for twenty years, producing more than sixty world-premier adaptations and cultivating the trademarked "Book-It Style" of theater, "preserving the narrative text [of classic and contemporary literature] as it is spoken, not by a single 'narrator' but as dialogue by characters in the production."

Book-It, which began by adapting short works, is currently tackling their fourth Jane Austen piece, Sense and Sensibility. My concern is less what happens in the play (it's a very familiar story, after all), and more how well the theater executes Austen's vision, how capably characters are pulled from the pages.

The marriage of Austen's prose and the verbal acrobatics of the Book-It cast makes for an auditory treat, which keeps the audience attentively chuckling along. The civility of the spectacle--rather the insistent lack of spectacle--makes for a very light and polite affair, a demure humor. The cast nails the important part: Austen would've recognized these as her characters, this as her story.

Because the novel is so lengthy, much necessarily has to be done in the way of omission. While no essential components or characters are removed from the narrative, we clip rather briskly along. This is accomplished by having characters step out of their own voices to relay information on behalf of the narrator, announcing (in a manner that is seen and heard by the audience, but not other characters), why they are saying the things they are saying, why they are doing what they are doing, and in some cases what happens subsequently. The convention is completely accounted-for and understandable, is at times a little dizzying, and only becomes a source of frustration as compelling moments are withdrawn from too early or sped through, dramatic coitus interruptus. It's a pitfall of adapting such lengthy source material, and Book-It does good work of damage reduction.

The production does a lot with sliding curtains to indicate or describe changes in location. While the method is effective and clear, I endured several moments of disappointment as my view of action was obscured. The purpose of a curtain, after all, is to obscure, and so while I cannot speak to the experiences of patrons on the opposite end of the theater, I suspect they might've been deprived a moment or two I was so fortunate as to enjoy from my vantage point.

All told it's a great production of a beautiful novel by a markedly talented cast and production company. If you're in the mood for some drawing room civility, if you're in the mood for manners, I'll point you in the direction of Book-It Theatre.

Through June 26, Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30p.m., Sundays at 2:00p.m. // Book-It Repertory Theatre, Seattle Center House, 305 Harrison Street // Tickets available here