Sense and Sensibility

Celebrated playwright Kate Hamill seems to understand the confining traits of small communities and to relish showing them at their most ludicrous. Though her 2014 adaptation of Austen’s novel uses Austen’s exact dialogue, in translating the novel to the stage, Hamill combines peripheral characters, re-uses central cast members as extras, and makes use of these extra hands on stage to illustrate prying gossipers overlooking the central action. Altogether, it’s an amusingly efficient way to keep the story moving along, and Cate Clelland’s direction succeeds in making it work admirably.

The especially beautiful costumery on all the characters filled the stage before a set that, though minimal, added its own period artistry, complemented by an amazing array of suitable furniture at the action’s frequently changing locations and, most helpfully, by an elegant purpose-built nineteenth-century easel upon which cards named those locations. Even the stage floor contributed to the period ambiance, with a gorgeous, seemingly hand-painted, floral design.

Though it may be unnecessary to risk visual confusion by keeping central characters in the same costumes as they play other characters, in this production their placement on stage kept matters clear enough. Having the extras, and to an extent some of the leads, caricature the period’s least attractive social facets produced remarkably clear diction, and the action, which at times is quite complex, came across as an impressive choreography.

All in all, REP’s Sense and Sensibility is a lot of fun; an outing well worth sharing.

John P. Harvey

Image: [L–R] Jack Shanahan, Annabelle Segler, Karina Hudson), and Ann-Maree Hatch, in Sense and Sensibility.  Photographer: Helen Drum.