Northanger Abbey was Jane Austen’s first novel to be completed for publication and was written between 1798 and 1799, although it was not actually published until 1817, after Austen’s death. The gothic-inspired parody is full of joie de vivre and charming wit – two aspects captured by Box Tale Soup’s production at the Edinburgh Fringe this August.
This performance of Northanger Abbey is nothing short of beautiful. The cast of two, Antonia Christophers and Noel Byrne, bring the characters to life, performing all of the roles of Austen’s classic novel with the assistance of papier-mâché puppets and an oversized trunk. Six hand-held puppets, about two feet tall, represent Eleanor Tilney, John and Isabella Thorpe, James Morland, and Mr. and Mrs. Allen – decorated with family-themed coloured ribbons, paper curls, and simple faces – as well as the darkly robed, towering puppet of General Tilney. These provide the supporting cast for Christophers as the naive, curious and humorous heroine, Catherine Morland, and Byrne as the witty love interest, Henry Tilney. Manipulating the puppets themselves, and never leaving the stage, Christophers and Byrne manage to present Austen’s talent for characterisation with grace and aptitude, giving each character their own voice and mannerisms.
Beginning with only the trunk and the puppets on stage, the simple set is carefully pieced together in the opening scene. Byrne and Christophers assemble two candelabras and set out the various props for the show: two cushions, featuring the typed pages of Northanger Abbey; a window; books; cutlery, and a blue scarf. As they do so, they transform into their characters. Byrne narrates as Christophers puts on her blue scarf: “No one who had seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be a heroine.”
Condensing Austen’s gothic tale into a mere 75 minutes should mean sacrificing some of the novel’s depth, but Box Tale Soup captured the ironic undertones, comedy and intrigue of Northanger Abbey with mesmerising skill. The story follows the gothic-romance fuelled heroine, Catherine, with Ann Radcliffe’s novel The Mysteries of Udolpho in hand, who joins her wealthier neighbours Mr. and Mrs. Allen on their visit to Bath. After meeting the clever and curious Mr. Tilney, Catherine, intrigued with the exhilarating social scene at Bath, quickly befriends the flirtatious Isabella Thorpe, sister to her brother James’ friend John Thorpe, and the respectable Eleanor Tilney, Henry’s sister.
Mrs. Allen, Isabella and John provide much of the comedy in the scenes at Bath, presenting the motifs of sociable society – John, the secretly bankrupt bachelor; Isabella, the flirt after an advantageous marriage; and Mrs. Allen, who is only in Bath to be seen in the latest fashions. While Catherine does her best to avoid the advances of John, who believes she will inherit the Allens’ fortune, she is very pleased to be invited to join the Tilneys at Northanger Abbey – a place where our heroine’s thirst for gothic adventure and romance can be fully indulged.
Journeying aboard the trunk-cum-carriage, Catherine’s overactive imagination is encouraged by Henry’s teasing about the hidden treasures and mysterious housemaids at Northanger Abbey. Upon exploring the gothic abbey, and learning of Mrs. Tilney’s unexpected death, Catherine creates a story of murder and malcontent, with the demonised General Tilney, here presented as an almost Dracula-like figure, used to accentuate her farcical behaviour and wild imagination.
It would be easy to play Catherine as the silly-girl-who-reads-too-many-books trope, outwitted by Henry in her naivety, but this performance does not. After the accusation-of-murder incident, Catherine’s imagination is shown in a far brighter light. Henry explains he must leave to visit Woodston, and Catherine, wishing she could join him, is told to close her eyes as Henry describes the details of the village and his home there, “the Parsonage, a new-built, substantial stone house” with “a large Newfoundland puppy and two or three terriers”, and a yet unfurnished drawing-room: “Well, if it was my house” Catherine replies, “I should never sit anywhere else. Oh, what a sweet little cottage there is among the trees, –– apple-trees too! It is the prettiest cottage”. While Catherine’s actual visit to Woodston is cut from the performance, this interpretation is a chance for Christophers and Byrne, unburdened by their puppet cast members, to show their true talent, and in transferring Catherine’s wonder for Woodston to her mind, the scene becomes truly beautiful.
Below the surface, the various literary-inspired details in set and costume allowed the performance to achieve a deeper significance. The type-printed material embellishing Catherine’s waist, Henry’s jacket pockets, the cushions, and the puppets’ clothes, seemed to be more than simple decoration. The performance focused heavily on Catherine’s imagination and her need to embrace her inner heroine, inspired by Radcliffe’s novel. These subtle additions felt like an acknowledgement of the power of the imagination through the written word, transcending the page and allowing the simple paper puppets to come to life for the audience.
The performance drew out every ounce of wit from Austen’s novel, providing each character with their individual physicality, voice, and stage presence. Although their characters’ interaction with the puppets was not always seamless, with one scene necessitating three of the puppets to be acted and voiced between the two performers, while also acting their main roles, the story lost nothing of its intrigue and wonder. I was very happy to see that Catherine’s coming of age journey remained at the centre of the story, affected, but not overshadowed by her love interests, or her folly.
Box Tale Soup’s Northanger Abbey was enchanting, and, although a shorter interpretation, it captured Austen’s essence and allowed her not-so-typical heroine to take the lead.
Box Tale Soup is performing Northanger Abbey at the Edinburgh Fringe until 28th August 2016 and will also be at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, between 8th and 10th September.