It's never the wrong time for Austen. Last night, at Dalston's Arcola Theatre - a few hundred yards from where locals and looters clashed last week - we got Heritage Opera's witty, brilliantly inventive Mansfield Park.
The opera is a new commission from Jonathan Dove, with libretto by Alasdair Middleton, drafted in at short notice to open the Arcola's two-week long Grimeborn festival.
Austen's tale is a Cinderella story. Fanny Price is a sensible girl ill-treated by her aunt, Lady Bertram, and her daughters. Her heart belongs to cousin Edmund, who is under the spell of worldlier Mary Crawford.
This is a lo-fi adaptation, scored for just a piano duet (Jonathan Ellis and Paul Greenhalgh, directed by Chris Gill). The only set is the first page of the novel as a backdrop. But director Michael McCaffery uses an impeccable 10-strong cast to ensure the 20 or so chapters each feel uniquely located.
Dove, a prolific composer for theatre, displays mastery of the form. Opera, with its capacity to let you know what a whole room is thinking at once, suits Austen's social comedy. The music - eminently accessible - draws on recognisable 18th century sounds: church bells, English hymns, Mozart and minuets.
Dove and Middleton keep the pace relentless and find new ways of making the music the action.
Serenna Wagner is a wry, watchful Fanny, only letting herself burst forth in rich song. Darren Clarke is hilarious as Mr Rushworth, Nicholas Sales a winning cad as Henry Crawford.
Mansfield Park
Arcola Theatre
E8
