The Jane Austen Society of Australia

<< Back to Book Reviews: Contents

Book review
Jane Austen and the Theatre

by Penny Gay

Cambridge Univ. Press, UK, 2002 A$4.95
214 pp, 7 b/w illustrations, £37.50

What a joy it is to find a work of thorough academic research and scholarship written in a straightforward style, accessible to both academic and general reader. 

In her book Jane Austen and the Theatre, Penny Gay investigates Jane Austen’s experience of theatre in performance, and plays as works of literature: works which she saw performed either professionally or in family presentations and plays she is known to have read. There is also extensive research on the theatrical world of London and Bath in Austen’s time so that the reader may understand Austen’s knowledge of dramatic presentation and appreciation of theatre and theatricality. Using this research Penny Gay argues that Jane Austen was a discerning and enthusiastic follower of theatre and her understanding of the drama was a major influence on her narrative style. 

The work is divided into seven chapters. The first, ‘Jane Austen’s experience of theatre’, draws heavily on her letters and looks at the Minor Works, showing that even in the juvenilia Austen uses dramatic techniques as part of her literary repertoire. This chapter explains, rather too often, that ideas introduced here will be more fully discussed in later chapters. What is an admirable teaching technique is, perhaps, not quite so necessary in a book which has clearly labelled chapters and reference points. 

Each of the subsequent chapters is devoted to one of the novels. Works that may have influenced Austen in developing plot, character or incident are discussed. Here the maturity of Gay’s arguments is particularly pleasing. The aspect of the work that may have influenced Austen when preparing her novel is examined and placed beside Austen’s use of the idea. There is no attempt to sensationalise by suggesting plagiarism, just an acknowledgement that this plot, or this type of character, or this incident existed, that Jane Austen would have known of it and that she used the idea in her own way to write her masterpiece. The knowledge that Miss Austen drew on contemporary sources enriches our appreciation of her work. 

In her discussion of the novels, Penny Gay goes on to look at the way each is constructed using dramatic devices and a strong understanding of theatricality. She shows how sections of the novels are presented scenically and how this affects the narrative technique. Even more enlightening is the way in which she shows how characterisation is developed using, or refusing to use, the reader as audience. Perhaps the most interesting discussion of this method of interpreting the novels is reserved for the chapter on Persuasion where Gay contrasts the discarded chapter in which Captain Wentworth discovers Anne’s true feelings, with the chapter that replaced it. Here the use of reader as audience, of character within the novel as audience, of scenic perception, is presented so clearly that it is impossible for the reader to ignore Jane Austen’s use of theatricality in her writing. 

Jane Austen and the Theatre is well researched, well argued and well written. The illustrations are thoughtfully selected, adding to the modern reader’s appreciation of theatre in Austen’s time. Penny Gay has made a significant contribution to Austen scholarship in writing this book. 

- - - 

See Penny Gay’s article What did Jane Austen learn from the Theatre.
and also Pamela Whalan’s article on servants – They also serve who only stand and wait in the December 2002 issue of Sensibilities.

Pamela Whalan

16 January 2003

HOME | What's New | About Jane | About JASA | JASA News | Sensibilities | Calendar | Conference | Book Reviews | JASA Library | Writing Competition | Mrs Goddard's School | Regency Fair | LINKS