Tis your ambition to be happy? Then come to Maryland Ensemble Theatre as they open up their 2024/2025 main stage season with Kate Hamill’s sprightly adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility. Indeed, the season of MET’s happiness kicks off swimmingly with this exuberantly energetic movement-based comedy, Directed by Gené Fouché, this most agreeable and enjoyable afternoon of quirky comedy meets winsome romance is a delightfully balanced romp of pathos and silliness, which just about sums up the experience of women in the Jane Austen era. Charming and well-paced, this cheeky romp through Sense & Sensibility will tickle your fancy and touch your heart, a most unusual combination when it comes to more ‘period pieces’ tuned-up for the stage.
Welcome to theatre in the ovular arena. Scenic Designer Shana Joslyn has reimagined the MET’s main play space and created tennis-court-style staging that is perfectly suited for the ensemble nature of this production. Roll-on scenery keeps the pace of the show slick and often adds to the hilarity of moments— like when a rolling table suddenly becomes a funerary pyre or when a rolling bench has to become a foot-propelled paddle boat. Accenting and augmenting Joslyn’s clever scenic composition is the work of Lighting Designer Cody James. One of the most impressive features of James’ lighting design is the clock that is projected onto the floor both at the top of the show and between scenes to illustrate the passage of time. It’s a functioning gobo of a roman-numeral clock, which is occasionally accompanied by window-style gobos to showcase the passage of seasons in addition to the progression of time. In addition to these nifty little spectacles, James also uses shadow and warm-light play to highlight certain romantic or less-than-pleasant moments all throughout the production.
Visually the show is a sparkling gemstone, practically a full set of crown jewels. Everything from the spatial layout to the lighting but above all— the sartorial selection as fashioned and fabricated by Costume Designers Elizabeth Tringali and Judy Harkins. Piece of the show? Easily the vivacious teal-blue affair worn by the Anne Steele character, complete with matching hat that’s accented with a neon pink feather. All of the costumes are fabulous and perfectly styled to the Georgian era, giving each character a unique look. Tringali and Harkins are smooth in their efforts to keep characters well distinguished as Kate Hamill’s particular adaptation has actors doubling and tripling up (occasionally in scenes with each other where one actor is playing the same character in which they are in conflict with, which only adds to the hilarity of the show!) and overall the costumes are très magnifique!
Adding to the beauty and careful thoughtfulness of the production is Sound Designer Kadyin Hamby. There are lots of little moments where an appropriate swell of instrumental sound delicately burbles up behind the dialogue in an almost cinematic fashion and it’s just smashing. Hamby utilizes some more modern musical tracks (shout out to “St. Theresa” because that opening riff is so iconic and exceptionally well placed in this production) to gently remind the audience that while this show takes place in the mid 1790’s…some of the nonsense, particularly when it comes to familial scandal and marrying outside of one’s station… is still, albeit sadly, very much in play in the modern world. It’s a unified sound plot across the board, whether its subtle background instrumental pieces, or more modern backing tracks used to swoosh through the swift scenic transitions.
Dialect Coach Eric Jones deserves a nod of praise as well; mastering those polished English sounds in varying degrees is no small feat and yet the cast sounds as if they’ve been speaking Jane Austen fluently and naturally all their lives. Unsung heroes like Dramaturg Laura Stark, and Stage Managers Sam White & Gabrella Mendes as well as Intimacy Coordinator Julie Herber, and Properties Designer Lori Boyd (who makes fabulous dog masks and horse heads for uproarious comic moments when those animals are featured in the script) are all a part of the well-oiled production machine that has put out such a fine product upon the stage for this performance.
Director Gené Fouché understands the nature of an ensemble piece. And furthermore she fully showcases her seasoned experience of directing this type of overlapping comedy. There’s nuance and subtly and sometimes downright in-your-face comedy; Fouché balances both so that it fits within the confines of Kate Hamill’s adaptation. Using actors to standup as the bed when Marianne is unwell and staging the slow-motion knockdown, drag-out fight between Fanny and Lucy (who are played by the same actress) are just a few examples of Fouché’s conceptual brilliance both in working her performers in the space and suiting them to the text. One could wax poetic for hours about the successes Fouché achieves in this arena (quite literally too, considering the spatial configuration of the stage) but it’s easier to state simply that her efforts pay off tenfold and that one should simply get a ticket to the show to experience the pure joy of it and sheer brilliance of it.
The rotating Gossips (at this performance Justin Meyer, Lauren McKenna, Elisa Rodero, Tad Janes, Christian Harris, Kiersten Gasemy, Willem Rogers, Kira Gandolfo, Bill Dennison, Matt Harris, Julie Herber) are the cheeky core of the ensemble performance that draw the audience into the tale right from the word go. There’s even a moment at the very top of the show where their overlapping lines are pitched directly at various members in the house, a clever invitation to be submerged fully in the reality of this production of Sense & Sensibility. Much like the rolling furniture, these Gossips roll in and out of scene— as well as in and out of character as many of them take up multiple other roles throughout the performance— with a fluidity that is as enchanting as the ebbing tides of the ocean on a sunny afternoon. They all succeed superbly in ‘spilling the tea’ as it were, giving the broader brushstrokes of exposition and detail between scenes rather than bogging the show down with a lot of unnecessary plot-thickened treacle.
Christian Harris is an absolute scream as Mrs. Jennings. There aren’t enough proper words to describe the haughty-put-on airs of affectation that go with Harris’ performance, particularly when pairing off in scene with Tad Janes, who in those moments takes up the mantle of John M. The pair of them titter and cluck about like gossipy hens, particularly when needling at poor Edward Ferrars, and the over-the-top high-caricature gestures and screams to which Harris takes the portrayal of Mrs. Jennings is the epitome of laughability. Janes affects one of those put-upon posh accents, giving his character a great deal of humors as well, which helps distinguish his moments apart when he’s wearing the role of somber Doctor or inconsequential household servant.
Tackling the duality of being Mrs. Dashwood and also Anne Steele, Julie Herber delivers a great deal of heartfelt moments throughout the performance as the former and a whole host of hilarious antics as the latter. Herber uses her facial expressions to parlay unspoken responses whilst wearing the guise of Mrs. Dashwood but depends more wholly on vocal affectations and silly movements to bring Anne Steele to life and by golly is it a hoot. You see her often chasing poor Margaret (Kiersten Gasemy) out of a scene, which only adds to the good time had by all upon the stage in those moments. Gasemy is the epitome of disgruntled precocious brat when playing young Margaret. Always left out of the fun, never included because of her age and her performance earns a great many chortles and chuckles from the audience every time she finds herself in one of these situations…particularly when she bull-rushes poor Edward Ferras and near-collapses him with her gut-punch hugs.
Differentiating between the highly flamboyant, air-for-brains John D. and the roguishly handsome, poised, and completely dashing John W., Willem Rogers succeeds in both channels. Though goodness gracious, one needs both a chaperone and an insulin pen for the scene where Rogers and Shea-Mikal Green’s characters start gushing poetry at one another, it’s so heated and simultaneously saccharine. Rogers’ deftly crafts a more harrowing series of emotions into his character as the plot’s details unfold late in the second act and you get moments of utter stillness and sobriety in the John W. character; it’s quite a striking juxtaposition to the otherwise flittering twit that is his portrayal of John D.
Stealing the show with her versatility, Kira Gandolfo is a roaring, rollicking riot playing Fanny, Lucy, and Lady Middleton. When tackling Lady Middleton she speaks in such languid, pausing starts, you all but have to bite your kerchief to keep from barking with laughter. And her unforgiving, unrelenting entitled nature as Fanny is nothing short of hysterical. Watching Gandolfo in action, as both these two characters, and the more demurely innocent Lucy, with just a hint of knowing cheekiness to that portrayal as well, is an utter delight. And again, speechlessness comes to the forefront when attempting to describe the brilliance of her back-n-forth scene and later fight…with herself on stage in the dueling roles of Lucy and Fanny.
There’s also something to be said for Matt Harris’ polar opposites approach to playing both the Ferras brothers. While Harris only lives as Robert Ferras for a few moments, his gassing on about cottages with that outrageous vocal affectation and over-the-top gestures and mannerisms will live rent-free in your head well beyond final curtain call. Harris is the perfect Edward as well, nervous and uncertain and his desperately eager affections toward Elinor are charming. What’s truly impressive about Harris’ portrayal of Edward is his spatial awareness and exacting comedic ability to crash into furniture (which he clearly knows is there) making it look like a total, buffoonish accident, adding to the schadenfreude others experience as they watch his clumsy plight.
The entire cast is well aware of how to move and work in the space, Bill Dennison is no exception to this. And while his more prominent character is that of Colonel Brandon, there’s a hilarious little cycle of Dennison playing the household man Thomas, desperately trying to leave the room after news has been delivered only he keeps having to circle back around and around in true farcical fashion, which much like Harris’ ‘cottages’ monologue, will live rent-free in your head well after you leave the theatre. As Col. Brandon, Dennison nothing short of a monumental gargoyle, stone and stoic hardly even bending at the shoulders to bow, though he’s not without his humors…particularly when rowing that boat!
Shea-Mikal Green and Tori Weaver, as Marianne and Elinor respectively, are the only two performers in the production who do not double up roles. The pair are sororal in the most strained of fashions and could not be more opposite in their presentation of their respective characters; both giving triumphant performances well-worthy of the ovations they receive at their bows. Nobody can ever accuse Green of being too reserved, in fact she’s the physical embodiment of an electric storm, flirty and flighty with an untamable spirit, perpetually needling away at her stoic, reserved sister. Weaver, as the composed and more grounded Elinor is very much her foil, feet, head, mind, and presence ever on the ground as Green’s portrayal drifts ever higher into the atmosphere. Both have delightful moments on stage with their respective love interests, though it’s Green’s Marianne that gets more than one in this production, and the pair of them play exceptionally well off one another, even in their moments of quarrel, but especially in their moments of tender, familial affection.
The whole production is full of life and energy and is just a charming delight to behold. It’s humors and heartfelt emotions are a staged delicacy the likes of which should not be overlooked. A true theatrical treat, MET’s Sense & Sensibility is boundlessly delightful and will entertain you from start to finish this fall season!
Running Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission
Sense & Sensibility plays through October 13th 2024 on the Main Stage of the Maryland Ensemble Theatre in the Historic FSK Hotel building— 31 W. Patrick street in downtown historic Frederick, MD. For tickets call the box office at (301) 694-4744 or purchase them online.
