The Santa Barbara City College Theatre Arts Department’s student showcase brings Kate Hamill’s contemporary adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” to the cozy Jurkowitz Theatre through Nov. 23.
The production offers abundant pleasures: humor; love; clever, choreographic staging; fine student acting; deconstruction of dumb societal norms; lively, playful movement; and a silly auntie; all in an intimate environment well-matched to its subject matter.
Quick summary: A mother and her three daughters fend for themselves when their husband/father dies suddenly (in this case, very suddenly) and his fortune automatically goes to a spineless male relative.
The two oldest sisters are of marrying age and opposing constitutions: Elinor, representing “sense,” is reserved and motivated by reason; and Marianne, embodying “sensibility,” is ruled by her emotions.
And each falls impossibly in love.
For American audiences, it may not be easy to keep track of all the characters, couples, suitors, reasons a match is impossible, rumors, assumptions. Most of the characters are related in some way, and most of the male roles are inhabited by actors with similar coloring and hair.
As always, SBCC makes creative use of space with minimal but expressive sets. It’s amazing what a few gossamer draperies, and portals and furniture on wheels can become.
The intimate Jurkowitz Theatre (downstairs from the Garvin) offers four exit and entrance channels, directing audience attention all around the theatrical space, which places the action at the center and at eye level or below it, giving us simultaneously an overview and an inside look at the action.
Hamill’s version incorporates a Greek chorus-style ensemble, The Gossips, anonymous masked characters who express the most judgmental, intrusive aspects of society. As usual, we learn more about The Gossips from their yammer than we do about their subjects. They provide levity and hold up a sharp mirror to society.
While every performance has something to recommend it, from tight enunciation to incisive facial expressions to ironic indignation, several standouts propel the action, and make the play just plain lovable.
Penny O’Mahoney as Elinor and Miranda Ortega as Marianne play especially well individually and with each other. Each captures what we might imagine Austen intended for the characters she wrote, and each communicates a meta-awareness of herself and her situation, while still inhabiting her role natively.
Robert Allen’s goofy Mrs. Jennings is hilariously naïve, seemingly clueless but oddly perceptive, over-the-top with flourish, and good will that outweighs her flaws.
Isabelle Marchand as younger Dashwood sister Margaret and Lynn Robinson as Mrs. Dashwood serve as comic and sincere foils, respectively, and bring impeccable, witty timing to both outing the truth and concealing it.
Cheers for production values that make the play, the house and the costumes seem much bigger than they really are to director Katie Laris, scenic designer Patricia L. Frank, and costume designer Pamela Shaw.
This SBCC production of Hamill’s “Sense and Sensibility” follows UCSB’s production of Hamill’s adaptation of “Vanity Fair” last year.
It’s easy to see why college theater programs choose Hamill’s work. It appeals to lovers of western literary canon as well as contemporary audiences who may never pick up the books. And it offers roles with a little more heft than a straight period piece might.
While the works Hamill adapts address women’s historical predicaments, her 21st century lens has warranted accolades such being named Wall Street Journal’s Playwright of the Year in 2017 and one of the most produced playwrights in the U.S. for three years running.
For tickets and information about remaining performances, call the box office, 805-965-5935 or buy tickets online at http://www.theatergroupsbcc.com.
Local art critic Judith Smith-Meyer is a 24/7 appreciator of the creative act. The opinions expressed are her own.