Last updated at 10:45, Tuesday, 01 June 2010

THEATREGOERS to Keswick this summer will be treated to the quintessentially English works of Jane Austen – but with a good dash of gothic horror thrown in!

theatre visit: Members of several Women’s Institutes are to see Northanger Abbey at Theatre by the Lake later this year

This is a true family show with something for everyone: romance, humour, a few scary moments and lots of gorgeous costumes.
Northanger Abbey has been adopted by Tim Luscombe from the Austen classic and he manages to retain much of the subtley and beauty of language. Fortunately for any younger members of the audience it’s also a visual feast with some ingenious stage settings devised by designer Martin Johns.
The play walks a fine line between the vivid imagination of heroine, Catherine and the real world of Georgian splendour into which she is thrown as a blossoming youth. Her two worlds often collide with dramatic and humorous consequences but, as with all good English novels, there is a happy ending.
It’s Vanessa Johnson’s portrayal of Catherine which really carries this tour de force. She pitches it just right – first as the innocent young girl with a runaway imagination and later as the maturing young adult determined to apply common sense to the frequently pretentious Georgian society in which she finds herself.
Tweeting may have been replaced by letter-writing and Facebook by an endless round of costumed Balls but there are many modern themes in this adaptation which will strike a chord with the theatregoer.
In particular the love of all things gothic will undoubtedly bring today’s youth to Keswick to see how their Georgian counterparts coped with castles, secret passages, hidden rooms and forbidden love!
Northanger Abbey is at times in danger of becoming a one-woman show but delightful performances by Amy Ewbank as Eleanor and James Hogg as Henry Tilney provide a grounding to Catherine’s runaway imagination! And Stephen Ley delivers a wonderful performance that is pitched just right to draw out the humour of many of the scenes.
Director Ian Forrest steers this away from twee BBC costume drama or dated Georgian novel and manages to produce a delightful summer show that will undoubtedly be a hit with the young or young-at-heart theatregoer.

• Northanger Abbey runs at Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake until November 5. Box office: 017687 74411.
• What did you think of the play? Add your comments/review below...

First published at 10:30, Tuesday, 01 June 2010
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk