In an intimate courtroom setting at Trowbridge Town Hall last Friday, Box Tale Soup performed a short adaptation of this classic Jane Austen novel.

Noel Byrne and Antonia Christophers had created a humorous, simple performance which summarised the novel perfectly.

The show consisted of just the two actors, seven puppets and a vintage trunk and the performers managed to create a unique experience which ignited the audience’s imagination and carried them back to 1798.

Noel and Antonia played the ‘love interests’ Henry Thorpe and Catherine Morland well, using exaggerated facial expressions which really captured the range of heightened emotions.

They also adapted the voices and movements of the seven handmade puppets which was amusing and helped to explain to the audience who the main characters were, making the story easy to follow.

The use of just a few props was creative. The recurring use of the trunk as a horse and carriage made the audience laugh, as the characters created the movements.

Just a foot pedal was used to produce the music, which really set the scene in the 1700s, along with the characters’ simple cream costumes, which all bore parts representing pages in a book. This was a simple way to remind the audience of the novel which Noel and Antonia had adapted.

Box Tale Soup have created a simplistic, imaginative adaptation which included motifs of the era in a light and satirical way.

It was well thought out and devised and presented on a stage with no room for mistakes. Definitely a play to watch.