Lifeline Theatre’s adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” delivers a staid portrait of polite but cutthroat Victorian society. Actors offer strong character work that frames the race for Lizzy’s mother to find her daughter a husband in a pretty yet confined box of social restraint. Jane Austen died a single, poor woman of forty-one after being turned down by a suitor due to her own lack of dowry; you can’t but wonder what would happen if Lizzy told the repressed Mr. Darcy to take a hike and created her own possibilities. Alas, this is nineteenth-century England, not Carrie Bradshaw’s Manhattan, and the whole point is to sit back and enjoy Austen’s witty use of the English language. Perfect comic timing from Cameron Feagin as Mrs. Bennet and Jan Sodaro as Mrs. Gardiner/Lady Catherine keep the laughs rolling and prevent the show from being mired in passive-aggressive English gentility. (Marla Seidell)
Lifeline Theatre, 6912 North Glenwood, (773)761-4477, lifelinetheatre.com. Thursday and Friday, 7:30 pm; Saturday, 4pm and 8pm; Sunday, 4pm. Through June 10.
Related Stories
London Below: A Review of Neverwhere at Lifeline Theatre Lifeline Theatre's remount of their adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel is inventive in design and powerful in its representation.- A Real Who's Whodunit: A Review of Whose Body? at Lifeline Theatre Dorothy L. Sayers' debut novel gets the Lifeline literary adaptation treatment.
- Monster Mash-Up: A Review of Frankenstein at Lifeline Theatre In recasting the story's lead, Lifeline's world premiere adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel seeks a feminist slant but misses the gender privilege at the core of the original.
- What a Bomb: A Review of The Man Who Was Thursday at Lifeline Theatre This quixotic adaptation of G.K. Chesterton's novel is both reverent and ridiculous.
- A Night of Pride: A Review of Ragtime at Marriott Theatre Lincolnshire Marriott Theatre's production of "Ragtime" is a stunning spectacle grounded in social realities.
- The Name’s The Thing: A Review of It’s Only a Play at Pride Films and Plays A redux of Terrance McNally's less-than-successful "Broadway, Broadway," Pride Films and Plays' production reminds us just what's in a name: quite a lot.
