Theatre / Lizzy, Darcy & Jane, by Joanna Norland, directed by Alexandra Pelvin. At Canberra Rep  Theatre, until September 20. Reviewed by ALANNA MACLEAN.

Lizzy, Darcy & Jane is what you might call a thoughtfully amusing  literary romp.

It’s given a clear and sensitive production under Alexandra Pelvin’s direction and the result is that you might very well come away prompted into some deeper research into the life and works of Jane Austen (Lydia Milosavljevic).

It’s a cleverly sustained play, with Jane’s real life being enlivened by the appearance of characters from Pride and Prejudice, notably Elizabeth Bennet (Dylan Hayley Rosenthal). This provides a strong central dialogue between two forceful personalities as the author and the novel’s main character debate events and possibilities and the constraints placed upon women at the time.

Darcy (Marco SImunec) is an upright hero and is successfully doubled with the role of Tom Lefroy, who in real life seems to have courted Jane only to have matters flounder. Sterling Notley plays multiple roles: the awkward Harris Bigg-Wither (who was Jane’s later unsuccessful suitor), as well as Mr Bingley and a pretty revolting Mr Collins.

Rachel Hogan bustles about as Madame Lefroy and the bossy Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and Elaine Noon is calmly sensible as the ever supportive sister Cassandra and the mother of Cassandra and Jane.

Kayla Ciceran’s understated set properly suggests the period as do Eliza Gulley’s costumes. Both are well supported by Nathan Sciberras’ sensitive lighting.

The focus of all of this is the relationship between Jane and her heroine Lizzy, with Lizzy’s story initially not being quite what it is in the novel. An early draft sends Lizzy into quite the wrong arms. Milosavljevic and Rosenthal revel in a powerful playing of  the author, her main character and the interplay between them.

Lovers of the novel will welcome a homage that does not involve vampires or time travel but a sensitive and amusing journey into what might have been some of the thought processes of the original writer.