For fans of Jane Austen and Bridgerton, the most sensible thing you can do this spring is head to the Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre for another addition to the Arts Club’s fantastic 2022-2023 program: Sense and Sensibility.
Adapted by celebrated New York City playwright Kate Hamill, the play promises to dazzle and delight audiences when it opens at the Stanley Theatre on Wednesday, March 8.
For those unfamiliar with Austen’s novel of the same name, Sense and Sensibility follows the Dashwood sisters after they have been left in an undesirable situation following the sudden death of their father. Their fate has led them both to become the topics of exceptional gossip. As rumors and murmurs overwhelm their 18th-century English society, the sensible sister Elinor (played by Nyiri Karakas) and sensitive Marianne (played by Amanda Sum) are challenged to navigate passion, prejudice and their reputations.
The Arts Club production was due to hit the stage during the 2020-2021 season but was effectively canceled due to the pandemic. Director Rachel Peake is thrilled to revive the production alongside a powerhouse creative team.
“Going through that, it’s been quite a rollercoaster,” Peake shares over the phone. “It’s a beautiful emergence—a symbol of the emergence—to me personally, of being able to come back to the theater. It’s an interesting thing to have sat with a play for so long and know it so well, because it’s been able to sit in my subconscious and percolate.”
Sense and Sensibility comes together through the talent of the production’s dedicated ensemble team, both onstage and behind the scenes. Peake and choreographer Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, set designer Shizuka Kai, costume designer Jacqueline Firkins, and sound designer Anton Lipovetsky have worked closely together to create a sharp, fast-paced, exhilarating tango of live theatre.
“In many ways, [this adaptation] will surprise audiences because of the way that Kate Hamill moves between locations. Our set is a somewhat non-literal environment. [Cheyenne Friedenberg] is bringing in some really amazing physical theater elements which you wouldn’t naturally assume go hand-in-hand in the Regency era. I think that the playfulness in the way that we bring those elements to life will be surprising and ultimately really exciting for audiences,” she adds.
Juno-nominated musician and local theatre veteran Amanda Sum is excited to take the stage in her first period piece as the sensitive, emotional Marianne.
“Marianne is the sensibility… she leads with the heart. In these themes of social constructs that the two sisters are fighting against, she’s the non-rule follower. Both Marianne and Elinor navigate love and life in their own ways, whether they are following and not following the rules, they both get into shit. [And even though] we are playing in this certain era, so many of these things are true to today,” shares Sum. “I just feel super grateful to be around such amazing actors and I am learning a lot from other people.”
Sense and Sensibility invites audiences to bring a sense of ingenuity, and their most playful selves to the theater. The play is bolstered by a world-building comedic Greek Chorus of “gossips” — a mischievous element to Hamill’s adaptation that personifies how gossip permeates society from the Regency era to contemporary times.
“It’s been a small gift inside of all the difficulty that was the pandemic,” concludes Peake. “It’s a great play right now because it’s about love and relationships and it’s about how we treat each other. And, it asks the audience to bring their imagination in a way that only exists in live theater– it really exemplifies the joy of live theatre.”
Sense and Sensibility based on the novel by Jane Austen is playing March 8–April 2 at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage. Tickets start at $35 and are on sale now. Get yours at artsclub.com.
