Jordan Wright
September 20, 2016
Special to The Alexandria Times
Colonel Brandon (James Patrick Nelson) receives some troublesome news in Folger Theatre’s Sense & Sensibility. On stage September 13 – October 30, 2016. Photo by Jesse Belsky.
Of course, Sense and Sensibility adaptor Kate Hamill was going to mix it up. Taking a cue from Jane Austen’s gossipy letters to friends and family, Hamill recognized the author’s sharp-tongued sense of humor and plumbed beneath the characters’ ostensible formalities to infuse this modern interpretation with an exuberance and hilarity ignored on earlier stage and film productions. Director Eric Tucker, Wall Street Journal’s “Director of the Year”, who worked with Hamill on the New York production in 2014, sees this version as, “wickedly funny and extremely romantic”, which quite neatly sums it up.
Austen was the consummate social arbiter, an irreverent chronicler who snubbed the upper crust’s pretenses by poking fun at them. Austen’s love of romance and the irony of domestic virtue aren’t lost in this version – they are merely brightened up with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The end result is an exhilarating romp that rediscovers Austen’s side-eyed portrayal of Victorian gentility.
Maggie McDowell stars as the subdued Elinor Dashwood in Folger Theatre’s production of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility. On stage September 13 – October 30, 2016. Photo by Teresa Wood.
The play opens with a disco scene of colored lights and electropop music. The women sport lace petticoats and the men get down with it in loose white poet shirts and matching leggings, that is until they break into a formal quadrille and we see where Hamill is going with this reinterpretation. Topsy-turvy, indeed!
Windowed panels and furniture on wheels define the settings from parlor to field, and it is an absolute marvel of John McDermott’s scenic design and Alexandra Beller’s choreography that keeps it in near constant motion. It’s all in great fun as the cast leaps on and off stage into the audience providing a cacophony of snippy, back-stabbing asides about their friends and family.
Marianne (Erin Weaver) shares a private moment with her love, John Willoughby (Jacob Fishel) in Sense & Sensibility. On stage at Folger Theatre, September 13 – October 30, 2016. Photo by Teresa Wood.
There are silly bits too. In one, an audience member is asked to hold the reins of Edward Ferrars’ imaginary horse. In another, Willoughby enters the Dashwood’s cottage through a mist provided by two of the actors visibly spraying him with water spritzers. It’s all a hoot.
Thanks to Jamie Smithson, who we loved in Signature Theatre’s Cake Off last fall, we are treated to a side-splitting, show-stealing performance as Ferrars. Especially notable too are Caroline Stephanie Clay as the gossipy Mrs. Jennings (she also plays Lucy Steele), whose appalling manners and ear-piercing howls at the dinner table are deliciously naughty, and Erin Weaver whose interpretation of the idealistic and impulsive Marianne Dashwood, is riveting. Lisa Birnbaum who plays Mrs. Dashwood as well as Lucy’s sister Anne Steele, is another one to watch. But it’s Jacob Fishel (audible gasps from the audience for his tearingly handsome good looks) as both John Dashwood and Marianne’s love interest, John Willoughby, that is indelible. Switching from cad to callow fellow and back all in a madcap frenzy, is what sticks.
Kudos to a superb cast whose athleticism, humor and feistiness gives us the most delightful version of Austen’s classic ever to hit the stage.
Elinor Dashwood (Maggie McDowell) learns of some distressing news from Colonel Brandon (James Patrick Nelson) in Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility. On stage at Folger Theatre, September 13 – October 30, 2016. Photo by Teresa Wood
See it now!
If you’re curious about Austen’s connection to Shakespeare, be sure to give yourself extra time to visit the Library’s spectacular exhibition, “Will & Jane: Shakespeare, Austen and the Cult of Celebrity”, now on display in the Folger’s Great Hall. This fascinating collection of rare memorabilia reveals the authors’ surprising parallels, and is part of Folger’s year-long “The Wonders of Will” celebration, commemorating 400 years of Shakespeare in 2016.
Through October 30th at the Folger Theatre at the Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. For tickets and information call 202 544-7077 or visit www.Folger.edu/theatre.