First year of my arts program at the University of Regina in the late ’70s I took Enlish 100. It was taught by a chain-smoking crone of prof whose name escapes me. The novel we studied that semester was Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility. It was a bit of an uphill struggle for me, I must admit. I was 19, a bit rough around the edges, with tastes that ran more to sports, rocking out to bands like van Halen, AC/DC, Heart, Streetheart. and Cheap Trick and partying hardy.
There’s a part of me that still likes to do all that. But its counter-balanced better now by an appreciation for more genteel forms of art and entertainment that explore more subtle nuances of human behaviour and social codes. That’s what’s on offer too with this Regina Little Theatre stage production of Austen’s other acclaimed disection of 18th century English society which opens a four-night run at the Regina Performing Arts Centre tonight at 7:30 p.m.
To get you in the mood, here’s the trailer for the 2005 movie which starred Keira Knightley as the impetuous Elizabeth Bennet. Keira Knightley! I did a post on her awhile back on our old blog.