Cleveland Play House Production of 'Pride and Prejudice' Brings Comedic Twists to Jane Austen Classic

Pride & Prejudice at Cleveland Play House Credit: Photo by Roger Mastroianni

Finding love is never easy. Consider any soap opera—or any regular opera for that matter—and the contortions those poor wretches go through just to have somebody around who can scratch their back and satisfy, um, other more carnal urges.

In Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice, the love stakes are stark since the girls in the Bennet clan need to find a mate in order to secure their and their family’s future.

That witty, endearing and enduring novel is flipped sideways in the game-inspired adaptation that is now being offered by the Cleveland Play House. If you prefer to take your Austen straight with no chaser, you may be surprised at the liberties taken by adapter Kate Hamill and director (and newly-minted CPH artistic director) Michael Barakiva.

But if you can loosen your grip on your preconceived or fondly remembered ideas of how the story of P&P proceeds, you’ll be in for a hell of a theatrical trip. To begin with, the stately elegance of Regency England is joyfully messed with, including a disco ball at a formal dance, a chamber music ensemble playing paper instruments, and an artfully placed fart joke.

In this version, five of the eight major players take on dual roles, with one enacting three parts, gender be damned. The multiple casting is a bit head-spinning, but juicy performances are turned in by many in this 15-person cast.

In the keystone role of smart (and smartass) Lizzy Bennet, Marianna Gailus cuts a willowy presence as she first rejects the marriage proposal of big-bucks Darcy. That seems like a good decision since, as played by Reece Dos Santos, Darcy has a stick shoved so far up his ass you could use him as a pinwheel.

The other attractive marriage fodder in the Bennet family is sweet and beauteous Jane (Shunté Lofton), who shares a budding love jones with Darcy pal Mr. Bingley (Christian Pedersen).

Darcy eschews Bingley’s easy romantic rapport and interrupts his dalliances with Jane by treating the easy-going Bingley like a golden retriever that is easily distracted by the jingle of keys or a thrown ball. Literally.

These activities and more are triggered by matchmaker Mrs. Bennet (a sly and brash Colleen Longshaw Jackson, doubling as Lady Catherine de Bourgh) who keeps the marital dreams of her daughters bouncing hither and yon.

Meanwhile her snarky hubby Mr. Bennet (Christopher M. Bohan) keeps trying to read his newspaper while issuing terse smackdowns to anyone within earshot. One of his frequent targets is his bookish daughter Mary (Pedersen again), who is turned into a lumbering lunkhead. She is given to frequent coughing to which daddy responds: “Have consumption or be done with it!”

A couple times during the show, Mary breaks character to address the audience directly, regarding complex interpretations of the situation at hand. This is one of the few comedy flips that falls flat.

As the person with the most roles to play, Alfredo J. Ruiz achieves a commanding presence as a fortune-hunting militia officer Mr. Wickham. He then reappears as Mr. Collins, a doltish clergyman who is often wrestled to the ground when his snobbishness collides with a well-practiced obsequiousness.

Along the way Lizzy often confers with her bestie, the older and more sensible Charlotte Lucas (Bohan again). True to her nature, Charlotte accepts a proposal from crazy Collins and winds up with a pea in the pod.

Yes, the story is all there as Jane A. penned it, with all the commentary about love, status and venal prejudice in place. But it is given a comical gloss and feverish energy that makes this CPH production light, airy and damn funny.

Pride and Prejudice
Through September 29 at the Cleveland Play House, Playhouse Square, Allen Theatre, 1407 Euclid Ave., clevelandplayhouse.com, 216-241-6000.

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