Theatre review: Festive warmth fills witty Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley
With Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, Metro Theatre offers a Pride and Prejudice sequel in which a long-overlooked member of one of literature’s most famous families finds love
Sarah Alma Angelle (left) and Adrian Shaffer in Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley.
Metro Theatre presents Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley to November 29
TWO YEARS AFTER the events of Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice, the Bennet sisters are reunited at Pemberley, the Darcy country estate, at Christmastime.
This time, however, Lizzy Bennet is not the star of the show, and neither is pretty sister Jane.
No, in Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon’s Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, middle sister Mary Bennet takes centre stage as the wry and witty—and sure, maybe just a tiny bit cynical—heroine, apparently resigned to living her life as a spinster. That is, until a certain Arthur de Bourgh enters the scene and turns her world on its head.
Portrayed brilliantly by Adrian Shaffer, this Mary is not the pedantic middle child we may recall from previous Pride and Prejudice adaptations. This Mary is a mature, spirited young woman and accomplished pianist who feels every bit as much obligation, frustration, and love for her family as her two older sisters did before her. In one of her first pieces of dialogue with Lizzy and Jane, we come to learn that without the two older Bennet sisters at home, the responsibility of caring for their aging parents has fallen to Mary. We also learn that despite her doubts about ever falling in love and leaving home, Mary dreams of the larger world beyond Longbourn.
Of course, this is not the first time we’ve seen a Bennet sister dream of something more. But, as Mary views it, while things have all worked out perfectly for both Lizzy and Jane—each landing kind, devoted, and enormously wealthy husbands, despite being on the lower end of the social hierarchy—why should Mary, plain-looking and bookish as she is, believe she could be so lucky?
Shaffer brings all of this nuance to Mary in their performance, expertly balancing Mary’s hot temper with her cool intelligence, her love and exasperation for her sisters, and her deep love of books and music.
Playing opposite Shaffer is Jack Thomas as Mary’s eccentric love interest, Arthur de Bourgh.
Miss Bennet and de Bourgh hit it off instantly, connecting as two individuals who would rather spend a night at home reading than attending a ball. And so comes a Christmas love story of maps, misdelivered letters, and mistletoe—oh, and the not-so-small issue of de Bourgh being promised to someone else.
Thomas lends a lot of surprising charm to socially awkward Mr. de Bourgh, and the rapport between him and Shaffer makes for a delightful—dare I say adorkable—thing to witness.
Other standout performers include Dovreshin MacRae as the haughty yet perceptive Mr. Darcy, and Zoe Salvin as the flirtatious Lydia Wickham. The production really shines, however, when the entire company is onstage at once, emphasizing that feeling of special togetherness found at Christmas.
All in all, this festive production feels warm and cozy, like snuggling up by the hearth to tuck in to an old, familiar book.
Much of this atmosphere is thanks to set designer Les Erskine, who, either through Christmas magic or his own skill, has transformed Metro Theatre’s 28-foot-wide stage into the large drawing room and attached library of Pemberley.
Key pieces of the set include Darcy’s large collection of books, which spreads deep into the wings, a writing desk for scribbling declarations of love, a pianoforte for Mary to escape to when she’s feeling particularly strongly, several settees and chairs, a chandelier, and—because it’s Christmas, after all—a giant spruce tree in the middle. Festive garlands, candle sconces, and rich, red curtains add to the warm ambiance.
Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley.
There’s something inherently cozy about stepping into the worlds of Jane Austen’s characters, even through a sequel written over 200 years after her original works were published. Perhaps it’s that Regency-era style, all gowns and cravats and tailcoats, or the etiquette of love and courtship, that feels so lovely to escape to. Maybe it’s the general themes of family and domesticity that one can so easily relate to and feel at home in; or perhaps it’s the unspoken promise that all good-hearted people will find their happy ending.
Whatever it is, Austen’s work continues to inspire warm and fuzzy feelings in audiences all these years later, and Metro Theatre expertly delivers these feelings—with that added festive flair—in Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley.
This year, December 16 will mark Jane Austen’s 250th birthday. For Austenhead Vancouverites who are looking for their own piece of that cozy Austen feeling and missed out on tickets to the Yuletide Jane Austen Birthday Ball in Bath, this delightful Christmas romp is a very good alternative. 
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