Photo Credit: Michael Brosilow
Fans of Jane Austen now have a holiday sequel to Pride and Prejudice. You’ll want to read (or reread) the novel after watching all the wicked fun and hilarious antics that the characters get into with this highly original, inventive story and top-notch production.
Written by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley focuses on bookwormish, scholar-bent Mary (Rebecca Hurd), whose feminist forthrightness puts her at odds with her married sisters, their traditional husbands and society at large. It’s been two years since sister Elizabeth (Margaret Ivey) married Fitzwilliam Darcy (Yousof Sultani), and everyone is gathering at the Darcy estate, Pemberley, to celebrate Christmas. Mary, however, yearns to celebrate her own independence.
“I long for a life being something other than someone else’s wife,” she proclaims early on at Pemberley, and her love of books, learning and piano playing only reinforce her isolation in a world that deems otherwise. Enter the Darcy cousin, also bookish and socially inept, Arthur de Bourgh (Jordan Brodess), and we see instantly where the holidays are headed for these two.
The power of women is as potent offstage in Miss Bennet as it is onstage. For the first time in the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s 65-year history, the entire production is headed by women—from the director to designers to stage manager. Director Kimberly Senior has given this well-written storyline with its clever dialogue a triumphant roar all its own, adding in a dual classic-contemporary twist; yes, that is the music of Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears that we hear played in classical format. “Girl Power” is as timeless as it ever was—and remains so.
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The eight-member ensemble is a delight to watch from start to finish. Hurd’s complex, layered portrayal of Mary is riveting, especially as she begins to fall for Brodess’ bumbling, tormented Arthur, just as complex a character in a first-rate portrayal. Even as the background spousal figures, Geyer cuts a fine comic turn as Charles Bingley, while Sultani (recently seen in Guards at the Taj) makes Darcy a three-dimensional figure; solid, upright, yet with a playful side.
So, while the women most definitely rule in Miss Bennet, love still manages to find a way to bring the sexes back together in time to celebrate the season—no mistletoe needed.
Through Dec. 16 at the Quadracci Powerhouse, 108 E. Wells St. For tickets, call 414-224-9490 or visit milwaukeerep.com.
