Theatre in the Round Players is kicking off their 74th season with a party for the whole audience. TRP’s production of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” adapted by Kate Hamill and directed by Penelope Parsons-Lord, is full of music, dance and laughter, so if you’re looking for a fun time, this show is your ticket. Hamill has been an adapting whirlwind of a playwright over the last decade or so and is one of the most produced playwrights in the country. (The Guthrie has produced a couple of her other Austen adaptations in recent years: “Sense and Sensibility” [which I liked] and “Emma” [which I… didn’t]). Going in, it was a coin flip whether I was going to enjoy myself at this re-telling of Austen’s best known (and oft-adapted) novel. I should have had more faith in the basic plot of “Pride and Prejudice” to deliver, regardless of the trappings. The production is well-executed and the cast is fully throwing themselves into romantic comedy vibes of it all.
“I just hate to think of her up there… in bed… alone.”
For the uninitiated (or if, like me, you sometimes can’t keep the plotlines of the different Austen novels straight): “Pride and Prejudice” is the tale of headstrong, intelligent Elizabeth (Lizzy) Bennet (Eva Gemlo) and her three sisters - her beautiful but shy elder sister Jane (Erika Sasseville), her severe and intense younger sister Mary (Stephanie Kahle), and her naive and flighty youngest sister Lydia (Maya Vagle). Since there’s no brother to take over the estate from their good-natured father Mr. Bennet (Nick Menzhuber), their loud and slightly frantic mother Mrs. Bennet (Alison Anderson) is desperately trying to get her girls all married off to well-to-do bachelors to secure their futures in 19th century society, where a woman’s options were limited.
“The soundest nets will sometimes catch the smallest fish.”
Fortune seems to smile on them when Jane catches the eye of the new man of means about town Charles Bingley (Michael Hundevad) - though his sister Caroline (Sydney Payne) does her best to undermine the budding relationship. Caroline seems to have an ally in Bingley’s awkward (but very rich) friend Mr. Darcy (Luke Langfeldt). Darcy seems to continually cross paths (and butt heads) with Lizzy, and yet despite the friction, the two of them can’t seem to stay away from one another. Further complicating matters are other potential suitors for Lizzy - the clergyman Mr. Collins (Davin Grindstaff ) (also a cousin to the Bennets, who is set to inherit the home they all live in when Mr. Bennet dies); and Mr. Wickham (Adam Rider), a soldier with a past tied to Mr. Darcy. Also in the mix are Lizzy’s friend Charlotte (Reese Noelle Marcus) who is also in need of a husband, and Mr. Collins’ very self-important patroness Lady Catherine (Anna Olson) and her ghoulish constantly veiled daughter Ann (Mary Lofreddo), with actors Lizzie Esposito, Scott Hoffman, and Krista Weiss rounding out the large ensemble of players.
“I apologize for the chaos. I wish I could say it was unusual.”
The first thing that catches your eye before the show even starts is how set designer Madison Bunnell has transformed the TRP space - climbing vines cover the two support columns in the house, hedges and bookshelves front several of the audience sections, and there are picture frames as well as chandeliers hanging in the air. But this is one of those rare set designs that reveals more detail the more time you spend looking at it. For instance, the bookshelves - half of each bookshelf has straight, normal shelves, the other side has shelves that are titled up or down, sort of quirky and precarious-looking (half Darcy, half Bennet, if you will). These shelves are populated by some of prop designer Dominic Detwiler’s many props helping to give each room that appears a touch of period feel. There are also some large frames fronting one audience section that are off-kilter - but moveable - and throughout the play some characters feel compelled to adjust them and straighten them up. The painting of the floor around the edges evokes flowing water, and the small circles which are part of the geometric pattern in the center of the floor have fields of stars in them.
“Reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful.”
There’s also a lot of furniture moving around and multiple high-speed scene changes happening as the story rapidly moves from one location to the next. This is the place where Alita Robertson’s bright, colorful lighting design, and the music-stuffed sound design from Robert Hoffman and director Parsons-Lord keep the audience alert and engaged between scenes. It can also be where a lot of the dance is thrown in as well (choreographed by Claire Achen). Scene shifts can be where a lot of the air and momentum go out of a production, so keeping these transitions lively and engaging is smart.
“He did come in search of a wife, and I was there.”
Most of the acting ensemble is leaning hard into the comedy part of “romantic comedy” and that’s something that this stage adaptation encourages. Part of Hamill’s appeal as an adapter is her ability to inject humor into almost any situation - whether it’s a good idea or not. It can help make an old story more accessible to a modern audience, however there’s a difference between laughing with a character and laughing at them. The play is sometimes winking so hard at the audience that I was afraid its metaphorical eyeball would fall out of its socket. A tone like that can sometimes make it hard for me to fully engage with a story because the actors are being encouraged to draw attention to the fact that they’re telling a story rather than just living in the moment without commenting on it. Also some running bits can undercut a character, like equating Bingley’s enthusiasm to that of a dog which eventually becomes a bunch of canine commands with a ball, like Sit, Stay or Speak. It’s a joke, and it gets a laugh, but at the character’s expense - so it’s a bit harder to root for him and Jane to end up together, because he doesn’t seem like a real person with a brain in his head. Again, not the actors’ fault, or even the director’s - the script is telling them to go there.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
At the end of the day, it’s still “Pride and Prejudice” and the story endures for a reason, because it works. Lizzy and Darcy, Jane and Bingley, and the colorful cast of characters around them are fun to spend time with. There’s also real energy and joy in this production which make it an amusing watch, and the evening just sails right along. TRP’s production of “Pride and Prejudice” is a solid piece of theater, with a large team of artists fiercely “committed to the bit,” as they say. No snoozy period drama here, we get a Jane Austen dance party instead.
“Pride and Prejudice” plays at Theatre in the Round Players (245 Cedar Avenue, Minneapolis, MN) through October 5, 2025.
4 stars - Highly Recommended
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