Imbued with humour, Kate Hamill’s 2014 theatre adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility adds a Greek chorus of “gossips” providing its colour commentary. The story explores the complicated love lives of two sisters with opposite temperaments: Elinor is the careful one, next to the carefree Marianne. The story takes place in 18th-century England, where etiquette and gender roles dominate society. In such an environment, gossip seems as ubiquitous as good manners. Hamill’s chorus expands on these themes in a 2.5-hour-long play at Ottawa Little Theatre (OLT) this March.
The Dashwoods with Sir John and family. Photo: Maria Vartanova.
“The gossips are the ones who fill in some of the aspects of the story that don’t actually take place on stage,” says Jane Morris, OLT Season Planning Committee Chair and actor. “They also add all the ironic social commentary which underlies Jane Austen’s novels, so there’s a fair amount of gossipy intrigue going on… as they watch the events unfolding of the play.”
The young characters are interested in following the whims of their hearts. However, Morris adds that “the men needed to satisfy whoever they’re going to inherit their money from. And the women basically were at the behest of whichever men ended up proposing to them—they didn’t have a lot of choices in life. So that is partly what it is all about, and then just the snootiness of society. If they think that anybody has transgressed, then they are basically ostracized. Everybody always has to be on very good behaviour.”
Elinor Dashwood, John Willoughby, Marianne Dashwood. Photo: Maria Vartanova.
The romantic comedy-drama, directed by OLT’s Riley Stewart, boasts an 18-member cast and opens the theatre’s 2023 season after being postponed in 2021. Hamill’s play originally hit the stage in 2014, and Morris says it took off big-time in New York: “They came up with an extremely lively and playful adaptation of this play. Now, for lovers of Jane Austen—it’s not a takeoff on Jane Austen. It is absolutely the story, all the elements of the story are there, but (Hamill) found a way of condensing it.“
Morris explains that the play “is basically a romance of two sisters; they both fall in love and neither of their hopes—their initial romantic hopes—really turned out the way that they thought they would. So, the play really has to do with them coping with disappointment, but it has a happy ending.”
The gossips. Photo: Maria Vartanova.
With a striking white semi-spiral staircase, the OLT’s revolving set was designed by Gillean Marie Denny Bernier. Morris says Denny Bernier has designed sets on both sides of the Atlantic and worked on about 100 different productions. Additionally, director Stewart composed and performed an original classical/regency-style score. “He composed a score that plays during all these transitions and sets the mood…There’s certainly music playing during the fabulous ballroom scene. He even wrote a whole hymnal with words for a funeral scene.”
When asked whether there were challenges translating the novel to the stage, Morris said Austen’s language was, at times, tricky to pin down.
“A lot of it is out of the normal. Some of it is slightly adapted, but it’s all written in that style. It doesn’t come that easily to the tongue. So, learning the language was a little bit of a challenge, but I have to say this cast learned its lines, and the script was not an issue very early on. People were ‘off-book,’ as we call it, and into the rehearsal process because it involved all this physicality. It’s been an absolutely amazing cast.”
Sense and Sensibility plays at the Ottawa Little Theatre until March 18, with showtimes at 7:30 pm Monday through Saturday and 2:30 pm on Sunday. Tickets are available online, and prices range from $30 for adults to $26 for seniors and $14 for students with a valid photo ID. The OLT is wheelchair-accessible with six wheelchair seats and an accessible washroom. Hearing-assist devices are also available at the front desk. The OLT’s accessibility policy can be found here.
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