Descending the stairs to the tiny Basement theatre in Leicester Square, I was unsure of what I was about to experience. Having never seen a one- woman show, I was curious as to how the performance would be executed. Upon entering the tiny blackbox theatre, I viewed Rebecca Vaughan sitting at a writing desk dressed in a Regency corset and robe, writing with a quill pen and ink. I took my seat in the front row, and every now and then I noticed Vaughan looking up from her writing smirking, as if holding a secret that only her writing revealed. The lights dimmed and a spotlight descended upon Vaughan as she looked up from her writing, glancing at each of us in the audience with an endearing smirk. “Gentleman!” She announces directly to the only male in the audience, which gathered more than a few laughs. Vaughan then begins in brilliantly executing Anne Elliot’s famous speech declaring the constancy of woman’s affections. Vaughan brought a liveliness and an eagerness to Anne’s (Austen’s really) words, captivating the audience in her first sentences. And it is then that our Narrator introduces herself, and proceeds to embark on an exploration and insight into the women of Austen’s novels, mainly through Austen’s words themselves.
Who can forget Lizzy Bennet’s fiery and passionate words towards Darcy after his botched and almost unforgiving proposal? Vaughan brought a new life to Lizzy Bennet’s words. Lizzy Bennet’s astonishment was everywhere present in Vaughan’s performance, and in each sentence, her anger and exasperation was rising, to the point where Vaughan’s face was bright red and her lungs quickly running out of breath. I was completely entranced. I felt every ounce of Lizzy’s frustration and anger towards Darcy.
From there, Vaughan embarked on a cavalcade of stunning performances of Marianne Dashwood, Mrs. Norris, Miss Bates, Mary Musgrove, Catherine Morland, Emma Woodhouse, Fanny Dashwood, Diana Parker, Harriet Smith, Mrs. Elton, Elizabeth Watson and Mary Stanhope. Vaughan’s performances of each character were everything that a Jane Austen fan would expect. And it is a testament to Vaughan’s outstanding performance skills to pull off embodying each character!
Of course out of the many memorable characters Jane Austen has created, Vaughan couldn’t have possibly performed them all. However, the arrangement was clever in that the performance encompassed a variety of emotions, an homage to Jane Austen’s genius in the formation of true character representations.
I would have liked to see Fanny Price, Mary Crawford, Mrs Bennet, Jane Bennet, but I am not complaining. Vaughan’s performance left me with a smile on my face. The simplicity of the set, and the intimacy of the theatre gave the audience a front row seat for a performance that brought Jane Austen’s words to life. Austen’s Women was testament to Jane Austen’s brilliant mind and novels.
Unfortunately, Austen’s Women is only running for a short time in Leicester Square, until May 9. Hopefully, Vaughan will tour with this magnificent piece… possibly to America?
