Mr. Knightley Winked at Us: Rediscovering the Joys of Jane Austen's Work

Categories: Entertainment , Romance , Rediscoveries

A friend and I went to the Playhouse in the Park’s production of Jane Austen's Emma the other night, and something curious happened during the curtain call.  The actor playing Mr. Knightley, Emma’s leading man, winked at us!  “Did you see that?” asked my friend.

Now, seeing as we were sitting about ten rows up, there is the possibility that he was winking at somebody else, perhaps someone in the first nine rows.  As this is my blog entry, though, I say we go with my version of events.  Anyways, the wink was just the nice, final note of what is the start of a wonderful re-introduction to Jane Austen’s work. 

My two favorite Jane Austen novels are Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, partly because they both have strong portrayals of relationships between sisters.  Myself being the youngest of four sisters, I am always curious to see how novelists do in representing this particular family connection.  Were Miss Austen still alive, I'm sure she would be greatly relieved (ha-ha!) to hear that I think she got it right; the sisterly relationships in these two novels ring very true.

I am now reading the novel, Emma, and remembering just exactly how well Jane Austen captures smart characters that occasionally do shortsighted things, usually in the name of, or misguided by, love.  This is certainly true in the case of Emma, a young woman whose determination to play matchmaker for all her friends almost makes her miss-out on the guy who might just be the perfect match for her.  And as far as not-missing-out goes, my recommendation would be to read Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, and catch the Playhouse version of Jane Austen's Emma before you read that book.  And if Mr. Knightley should wink at you, too, I don’t want to know!