There’s a delightfully good time being had at the Rep this month. How so? Let me explain
We live in an era in which Jane Austen has once again become popular. For the young, in particular, that’s a good thing, reading fiction that’s so well done and learning (whether by print or film) that the human story is one that’s repeated in all its complexities over and over. Her stories of the landed gentry of the early 19th Century have created fans as devoted as those of Sherlock Holmes, Dickens, or Star Trek.
Like those sources, her work has been enlarged upon with varying degrees of success and tastefulness. I do not quite meet the clinical criteria for being an authentic Janeite, but I have read all her novels more than once. I found them as a 16-year old, when one of my acquaintances was carrying Sense and Sensibility. I knew that hadn’t been assigned in our senior English class and raised my eyebrows. “Oh, no,”, she said, “it’s really good!” She and I were much alike, nearsighted, permanent-waved bookworms, and identified with Mary, the middle Bennett sister in Pride and Prejudice. I was hooked very quickly.
So it was with careful hope that I saw Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, the holiday offering from the Repertory Theatre St. Louis. The title character is indeed my namesake bookworm, the sole unmarried sister of the five Bennet girls. Lizzie, the main character in Pride, has married the fortunate Mr. Darcy, and Mary, along with Lizzie, the eldest, Lizzie’s husband and the rowdy youngest sis, Lydia, who is most definitely not with her spouse, have gathered for the holiday at Pemberley, the Darcy estate.
But there’s another, unexpected, guest. It’s Mr. Darcy’s younger cousin, Arthur de Bourgh, who’s just inherited from his aunt a title, land, and money. Arthur’s a guy who’s spent his time at Oxford satisfying his vast intellectual curiosity, not following the traditional path of cutting a swath in society and permitting the ladies to fawn upon him. He is, in fact, a bookworm. Too. The path of true love in Austen’s world, of course, is a meandering one, with snowdrops and snails and waiting for fates to be decided.
All this is delivered with zest. The dialogue is snappy, epigrams flying, and a surprising amount of physical comedy. Justine Salata’s Mary bears her old-maid-sister-who’ll-take-care-of-the-parents with irritation seeping out now and then, a smart girl whose tongue is less tamed than Lizzie’s was when she was single. It’s a performance with plenty of spunk. Lizzie, or Elizabeth, as she mostly goes by now, is Harveen Sandhu, elegantly restrained but warm and delighted with her marriage and Mr. Darcy himself, as played impressively by Rhett Guter.
The newcomer, Arthur, is Miles G. Jackson. Jackson is, quite simply, a wonder. Arthur is awkward, smart, unsure of what’s ahead of him with his newly inherited title, and particularly unsure about Mary, who turns out to be reading a book on natural history that he’s reading, too. He’s absolutely fabulous to watch, even his footwork during conversations.
Director Jenn Thompson has brought things together in fine fashion, starting before anyone steps onstage, thanks to Wilson Chin’s extremely elegant set. (If they borrowed those chandeliers from someone, the lender should be set up in season tickets for the next few years.) It’s fun watching David Toser’s costumes, even for the almost defiantly un-vain Mary, become more elaborate as the time moves forward toward Christmas Day in the play. They’re the sort that makes one think wistfully, “I wonder where I could buy something like that.” Phillip S. Rosenberg’s lighting is perfect for the drawing room setting, and the sound, including Mary’s pianoforte, comes via sound designer Toby Jaguar Algya. And a tip of the leash to stage manager Emilee Bucheit for the use of Pascal, her dog, who’s put to elegant use in the last act.
There’s more – this is an utter frolic of a play, but we’d get into spoilers. Anyone who’s enjoyed the movies, even those based however loosely on Austen, like Clueless and Bridget Jones’ Diary needs to be, should be at the box office, absolutely braying for tickets. It’s a perfect holiday indulgence.
Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley
through December 24
Repertory Theatre St. Louis
Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts
130 Edgar Rd., Webster Groves
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