Jane Austen's House Museum: Sense & Sensibility Scenes

On Easter Monday the sun was blazing down on Jane Austen’s House Museum, which was perfect weather for our first ever outdoor performances. Ruffled Umbrella are a small theatre company who “create theatre that captivates and surrounds an audience”. They performed two scenes from Sense and Sensibility in the garden. The first, adapted from Chapter 2, in which John Dashwood and his wife Fanny discuss whether to give his sisters any financial support after the death of their father. And the second is the heartfelt scene between Elinor Dashwood and Willoughby in Chapter 44 where he desperately tries to justify his behavior towards Marianne.
The audience gently gathered on the grass as the actors began. Dressed in elegant replica costumes the actors immediately took the garden back to Regency England as Elinor Dashwood paced across the lawn in a long swishing skirt. The performances added a fresh and lively dimension to the atmosphere at the house and really brought it to life. It was wonderful to see these intimate dialogues performed so close to the audience and made us feel as though we’d stumbled across a real conversation.

Quote from Chapter 44
"You are very wrong, Mr. Willoughby; very blamable," said Elinor; while her voice, in spite of herself, betrayed her compassionate emotion; "you ought not to speak in this way, either of Mrs. Willoughby or my sister. You had made your own choice. It was not forced on you.”