Playwright: adapted by Jon Jory from the novel by Jane Austen. At: Northlight Theatre at the North Shore Center for the Arts, 9501 Skokie, Skokie. Phone: 847-673-6300; $30-$50. Runs through: April 17
Three things that must be understood about Jane Austen's world: first, that "sensible" did not have the meaning it has today, but referred instead to what we would call a "sensitive" temperament. Second, the rich were extremely rich and the poor, extremely poor. Third, the laws governing ownership and inheritance of property were overwhelmingly skewed to female disadvantage.
Ah, but Austen was also writing during the age of Romance, her novels inaugurating a literary genre thriving to this day. Thus, her heroines are a pair of genteelly impoverished sisters, one ostensibly ruled by reason and the other, by emotion"sense" and "sensibility," get it? Surrounded by a society steeped in mercantile matrimony, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood both fall for men who are not what they initially appear to be. After many complications and revelations, those following the lure of money alone are punished, while those who obey their intuitive inclinationsalbeit tempered with rational experienceare rewarded with both love and prosperity.
Nineteenth-century literature was designed for leisurely reading, making its adaptation to the abbreviated time mandated by modern performance difficult. Jon Jory's text for this Northlight Theatre production is a miracle of storytelling efficiency, however, whisking us from one locale to the next with the breathless expediency of the action delineated within. To be sure, this complex saga requires a good two and a half hours to arrive at its conclusionplaygoers accustomed to napping at the theater may have to resort to the materials in the lobby bookstall to catch upbut those paying attention will have no trouble following the lovers' thorny trail to a satisfactory accord.
Fortunately, remaining alert has never been easier, thanks to the briskly unflagging pace set by a cast displaying the stamina of marathon runners coupled with the mercurial elation reaffirming our faith in a happy ending to come. Helen Sadler and Heidi Kettenring charm us with grace and tenacity as the Misses Dashwood, while Jay Whittaker and Geoff Rice lend unexpected depth to the suitors who finally prove themselves worthy of the ladies whose affections they would win. But their efforts would be nothing without the auxiliary personnel contributing texture to this giddily artificial universe, especially Wendy Robie, whose meddling Mrs. Jennings does double duty as facilitator and foil to her befuddled peers.