A Bitter and Exquisite Revenge

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Mrs. Lovett (Heather Orth) and Sweeney Todd (Keith Pinto) 

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler

Hillbarn Theatre

Foster City, CA
Until Feb 10

Reviewed by Christine Okon

Hillbarn Theatre, that little gem of Broadway on the Peninsula, has mounted a winning, razor-sharp production of Sweeney Todd, Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 Grand Guignol musical about a spiritually lacerated man obsessed with serving  revenge upon his tormentors. (The story of Sweeney Todd first appeared in the Victorian penny dreadful “A String of Pearls”.)

Directed by Joshua Marx, this  production brings us to Fleet Street in 18th century London where survival from poverty and injustice is the name of the game.

Mrs. Lovett (Heather Orth) and Sweeney Todd (Keith Pinto)

As Sweeney Todd, Keith Pinto compresses the anger, obsession, and hatred that simmered when he was falsely sentenced to 15 years of prison, torn from his wife and baby daughter by the lascivious “pious vulture of the law” Judge Turpin. With his gaunt frame, sunken eyes, and poignant voice, Pinto creates a very scary Sweeney indeed, and we are afraid of him and for him. When later he caresses and dances with his razor, the effect is chilling yet exuberant.

Sweeney meets the gleefully opportunistic, larger-than-life Mrs. Lovett who becomes Sweeney’s partner in crime and, she hopes, love. Heather Orth captures the Cockney piemaker’s bustling resourcefulness and sinister motives with both humor and fear. Their relationship is as toxic as the foul stench from the evil deeds that lead to a “City on Fire,” powerfully sung by the ensemble members as they weave in and out of the audience. The scenes depicting ordinary London folk, soldiers, or asylum inmates are elevated by the sharp choreography and direction of the talented ensemble.

More pie! Mrs. Lovett (Heather Orth) and Ensemble

Sondheim’s songs deepen the motive of each character in Sweeney’s path, and the cast does not disappoint. Jaron Vesely as Sweeney’s only friend Anthony Hope fills the space beautifully with his love for Sweeney’s daughter Johanna (a sweet Jennifer Mitchell) who is trapped like a bird in a cage by the lecherous and callous Judge Turpin (a frighteningly commanding Chris Vettel).  Turpin’s “bom-bom-bom” duet with Sweeney’s whistling about “Pretty Women” during the final “shave” is viscerally chilling. Ross Briscoe brings a touching vulnerability to the innocent Tobias who naively promises to protect Mrs. Lovett (“Not When I’m Around”) and later goes mad when he discovers how the meat pies are made.

Mrs. Lovett (Heather Orth) and Tobias (Ross Briscoe)

The theater’s small size puts the audience close to the actors, intensifying the pressure cooker of emotions. Lighting (Pamila Z. Gray) and scenic  design (Ting-Na Wang) create an appropriately ominous mix of light and shadows. One thing did not really work, though. The animated sketch projected on the backdrop like a thought balloon while Sweeney sings the mournful “there was a barber and his wife..and she was beautiful” was distracting and unnecessary, competing with the mental image created by the lyrics.

Nevertheless, Hillbarn Theatre’s production of Sweeney Todd will resonate long after you leave the building, and you may find yourself singing “attend the tale” as you lift your razor high.


Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
HIllbarn Theater
1285 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City, CA 94404
1.650.349.6411
box office@hillbarntheatre.org

CAST
Keith Pinto* - Sweeney Todd
Heather Orth - Mrs. Lovett
Chris Vettel* -  Judge Turpin
Ross Briscoe - Tobias
Jesse Cortez - Pirelli
Juliette Green - The Beggar Woman
Jennifer Mitchell - Johanna
Sam Nachison - The Beadle
Jaron Vesely - Anthony

ENSEMBLE (Alphabetical Order)
Kyle Arrouzet, Karen Atlhoff, Juan Castro, Ryan Courtin, Ronald Houk, Danny Navarrete-Estassi, Elana Ron, James Schott, Molly Thornton, Catherine Traceski, Rachel Witte,

*Denotes Actors’ Equity Association

CREATIVE TEAM
Director -  Josh Marx
Music Director & Vocals - Rick Reynolds
Costumes, Hair & Makeup - Y. Sharon Peng
Scenic Design - Ting-Na Wang
Lighting Designer - Pamila Z. Gray
Properties Designer - Phyllis Garland
Master Carpenter - Paulino DeLeal
Sound Designer - Brandie Larkin


Photos by Mark and Tracy Photography

When We Were Young and Unafraid of the Courage to Choose

 

When We Were Young and Unafraid

Agnes (Stacy Ross) and Mary Anne (Liz Frederick) Photo: Jay Yamada

By Sarah Treem 

Directed by Tracy Ward

Jan 17 – Feb 9

The Custom Made Theatre Co.

533 Sutter St (@ Powell)

San Francisco, CA 94102

(415) 798-CMTC (2682)

info@custommade.org

Reviewed by Christine Okon

The Custom Made Theatre Company’s production of Sarah Treem’s When We Were Young and Unafraid hops the time travel bus back to 1972, when society was reverberating from the upheaval of the 1960s and bubbling in the froth of nascent ideas and ideals. 

It’s a time when rules suppressing women’s right to choose her life and work path were being questioned (Roe v. Wade came a year later), and women themselves were raising clenched fists to take action. In When We Were Young and Unafraid, each of the four female characters must make choices and take action.

The setting is a somewhat shabby rustic kitchen on a remote island off the Washington State coast.. We meet Agnes, the middle-aged proprietor of a bed and breakfast that looks innocuous enough until we learn it’s a stop on a sort of underground railway for abused women fleeing domestic violence. 

Stacey Ross brings us an Agnes full of strength, wisdom and resolve; her homey baking of pumpkin cardamom muffins belies the radical person she really is, someone who continues to take great risks to help free women from a life of abuse. Agnes is the motherly guardian of Penny, an ambitious and intelligent young woman (played with bright energy by Zoe Foulks) who’s trying to find her way in the swirling confusion of her age and era.

Penny (Zoe Foulks) and Agnes (Stacy Ross)

Photo: Jay Yamada

Things seem to run like clockwork until Mary Anne arrives, a vulnerable young woman bearing the victim’s badge of a painful black and blue shiner.  Liz Frederick brings a depth of character to this woman who, although abused, is strong in her own mind and will.

Agnes accepts Mary Anne and lays down the rules: Mary Anne needs to stay hidden upstairs until her face heals; she needs to promise Agnes that she not call her abusive husband without telling her first. But Mary Ann has the strength of a survivor who’s been through the mill. She is strong by the rules she is familiar with in the game of “win the man,” even if it means suppressing one’s own voice and individuality. When she overhears Penny’s anguish over not winning the attention of the star football player, Mary Ann coaches Penny in the rules-- to wear a dress, fix her hair,  act interested only in the guy--in other words, to become a wind-up doll of feminine guile, a strategy that Mary Anne has lived by for years.  

Much to her dismay, Agnes fears that Mary Anne will sway Penny from her path toward college and self-actualization. Her attempts to control arise from love and experience at having seen so many young women’s lives ruined; her passion to help women get abortions had led to revocation of her nursing license. 

When Hannah, a self-reliant and self-assured lesbian comes looking for work (she can fix anything) at Agnes’s door, she is at first turned away but nevertheless persists. Renee Rogoff is a badass Hannah who takes no crap as she celebrates womynhood, her strong will a real match for Agnes. 

There is one guest at the B&B: the clueless, nice-guy Paul (played with a gentle befuddlement by Mark Hammons), looking like a lanky and confused Glen Campbell with long sideburns and polyester shirts as he tries to keep pace with the women who are straining at the leashes of their own lives.

Agnes (Stacy Ross) and Hannah (Renee Rogoff)

Photo: Jay Yamada

As an intense visit to those changing times, When We Were Young and Unafraid stirs the batter of how love is defined, the who, what, why and how of love in action, and the compromises that must be made.  

Of special delight, especially to the baby-boomer crowd, were the snippets of songs by Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills Nash and Young, and other beats of the 70s. Costume designer Coeli Polansky must have had a lot of fun foraging in vintage clothes stores to achieve that authentic 70s look. 

This play is an engaging study of how change is made in fits and starts, and not with a single smooth broad brush upward stroke toward enlightenment. With strong productions like this, The Custom Made Theatre Company is getting better and better at finding the heart of a play and putting it forth to the world -- with a lot of heart and limited funds.

When We Were Young and Unafraid

by Sarah Treem

CAST

AGNES: Stacy Ross*

PENNY: Zoe Foulks

MARY ANNE: Liz Frederick

HANNAH: Renee Rogoff

PAUL: Matt Hammons

*Member, Actors Equity Association

PRODUCTION TEAM

Director - Tracy Ward

Scenic Designer - Bernadette Flynn

Costume Designer - Coeli Polansky

Lighting Designer - Haley Miller

Sound Designer - Jerry Girard

August Wilson's Life Lessons

How I Learned What I Learned

Steven Anthony Jones as August Wilson (photo: Kevin Berne)

By August Wilson
Directed by Margo Hall
Featuring Steven Anthony Jones
In partnership with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre and Ubuntu Theater Project

Marin Theatre Company
397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley CA

Jan 10 – Feb 3 2019

How I Learned What I Learned is August Wilson’s last play and an invitation to sit and visit with the Pulitzer Prize-winning raconteur as he regales us with stories about his life as a young writer in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. Directed by the esteemed Margo Hall, Steven Anthony Jones steps into the soul of Wilson to recount the life and career of the playwright who magnified the voice and form of the African American experience via his American Century Cycle, a series of plays that include Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Jitney, Fences and others.

Steven Anthony Jones (photo: Kevin Berne)

In front of a wall of paper sheets, Jones dips and swaggers into the well of stories, memories, beliefs, and jokes that became the rich reservoir for Wilson’s creativity. He talks about his mother Daisy Wilson who insisted on respect at all costs,citing the time she won a washing machine in a contest but refused to accept the used model she was offered. The lack of, yearning for, and ultimate winning of respect are threaded throughout his plays. He tells us where he fits on the continuum of an African American history that is rife with societal discrimination, cruelty, and suppression, often adding his brand of humor and satire. “My ancestors have been in America since the early 17th century. And for the first 244 years, we never had a problem finding a job.”

Wilson’s stories are rich and poignant, like the time white patrons of a diner misinterpreted the signifying banter of a group of African American guys as troublemaking, something that has not changed much over the years. Or how he joined a group gathering on the sidewalk outside a jazz club to relish the sound of  John Coltrane may have been “background music” to the well-to-do patrons inside but whose spirit floated over the club audience to deliver a message to real audience.

Steven Anthony Jones (photo: Kevin Berne)

Jones as Wilson is amiable enough to put the audience at ease, and although on opening night there were a few nervous missteps, he carried the evening to a standing ovation.

Performed on the Marin Theatre stage, this play is as static and engaging as a Ted talk but not as intimate as a club experience. Jones delivers Wilson at a distance, and it would be interesting to see the show at the other venues planned by  the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre and Ubuntu Theater Project in February and March.


How I Learned What I Learned
By August Wilson

August Wilson: Steven Anthony Jones
Stage Manager: Liz Matos

Director: Margo Hall

Scenic Designer: Edward E. Haynes, Jr.
Lighting Designer: Stephanie Johnson
Costume Designer: Katie Nowacki
Sound Designer: Everett Elton Bradman
Properties Designer: Rachel Hurado, Liam Rudsill

Marin Theatre Company
397 Miller Avenue
Mill Valley, CA 94941-2885
Phone: 415.388.5208
Email: boxoffice@marintheatre.org

Inviting Our Better Ghosts

A Noh Christmas Carol

Jakubei (Stephen Flores) haunting Sukurooji (Simone Bloch) Photo: Shannon Davis

Theatre of Yugen
At Noh Space, 2840 Mariposa Street, San Francisco

Ending December 30, 2018
Fridays at 7 PM, Saturdays at 2 PM and 7 PM, Sundays at 4 PM

We all know how Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the holiday staple that reminds us of the true meaning and magic of the season. We all have ghosts of past present and future, but to see this story presented in a new light by Theatre of Yugen is transformational. (The word Yugen is from the Japanese YU, meaning deep, quiet or otherworldly, and GEN, to mean subtle, profound or obscured).

A Noh Christmas Carol keeps the skeleton of the familiar story with a leap into unknown spiritual dimensions. As practiced as a tea ceremony, as simple as a brush painting, and as clear as a flute, this production is intriguing, engaging, and even disturbing. It’s the story of the miserly Sukurooji (Scrooge) who is callous to the pain of his workers and tenants until he is taught a lesson that he has suppressed all of these years..to see and love life anew, as a child.

Kurando [Cratchit] (Zoe Chien) and his wife (Mikah Kavita) at dinner as Sukurooji [Scrooge] (Simone Bloch) watches happily. Photo: Shannon Davis

Under the direction of Nick Ishimaru, each performer honors the ancient craft and discipline of Noh for a modern stage. Simone Bloch’s Sukurooji is both menacing and kindly, her expressions exaggerated by classic makeup. The chains that bind us into the next life are dragged by the ghost Jakubei (Stephen Flores), a scary and hunched apparition that mouths true agony. Rachel Richman is ethereal and elusive as the ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet-to-come. Even the invisible koken stage hand moves like a silent spirit.

Stephen Flores as the tortured ghost of Jakubei Photo: Shannon Davis

A sublimely constrained format, like haiku and bonsai, minimalist abundance, is evident in this production. The very simple and deliberate set design features a large portal suggesting the Japanese character Enso, the circle of life’s journey. The music and sounds work subtly to bring a sense of mystery to this very familiar story, making it ring anew.

Set portal Photo: Christine Okon

There is still time to see A Noh Christmas Carol before it ends December 30. It would be a perfect way to celebrate a transition from past to present to future.

A Noh Christmas Carol
Theatre of Yugen theatreofyugem.com

CAST
Simone Bloch - Sukurooji (Ebenezer Scrooge)
Zoe Chien -  The Men
Steven Flores  - Jakubei Mashima (Marley); Kurogo
Mikah Kavita -- The Women
Rachael Richman -- The Christmas Ghosts

PRODUCTION TEAM
Nick Ishimaru -- Director
Mel Ramirez -- Stage Manager
Ella Cooley  -- Sound Designer
Josh McDermott -- Set Designer
Cassie Barnes -- Lighting Designer
Liz Brent -- Costume Designer

A Visit with a Timeless Icon of Hollywood Fashion

A Conversation with Edith Head

Susan Claasen as Edith Head

Based on Edith Head’s Hollywood by Edith Head and Paddy Calistro
Starring Susan Claasen

Until December 16, 2018

Pear Theater
1110 La Avenida St, Mountain View CA
http://www.thepear.org

Edith Head, that fierce little bespectacled bird of Hollywood fashion, lives again in Susan Claasen’s world-renowned solo show. A Conversation with Edith Head is indeed just that, with Claasen, as Head, engaging the audience with her “wit, wisdom, and a whisper of gossip” as she recounts her life as one of Hollywood’s foremost costume designers.

The "Real" Edith Head with her Oscars

Claasen, who bears a striking resemblance to Head, creates an easy intimacy as she chats about the 44 years at Paramount Studios where she costumed the likes of Elizabeth Taylor (with a 19-inch waist), Dorothy Lamour, and especially Grace Kelly, that paragon of exquisite beauty. Admitting that she best loved dressing men like Cary Grant, Paul Newman, and Danny Kaye because of how they looked and moved, she stresses how important it is for costumes to enhance, and not distract from, character. One of Head’s secrets of success is that she really listened to what the performers needed and wanted in their clothes while at the same time complying with the director, knowing that her role was, as Tim Gunn would say, to “make it work.”

When she was suddenly let go from Paramount after decades of service, her friend Alfred Hitchcock, whom she loved working with, helped her get established at Fox. Her anecdotes about working with Hitchcock are delightful and funny, as when Tippi Hedren’s green suit in The Birds had multiple iterations, “one for each peck.”

Classen's "Head" Shot

It is clear that Claasen relishes channeling the confident and sometimes snarky designer who stayed true to herself and thrived in the jungle that is Hollywood. She interacts easily with the audience, answering their questions, praising a woman’s put-together outfit and admonishing a man with an aghast “You wore JEANS to see ME?!”

Claasen’s knowledge of Head’s life, her love of the subject, and her easy demeanor on stage all create a comfortable and enjoyable visit with an icon of yesteryear. A Conversation with Edith Head will most likely appeal to the limited set of theatergoers who know and love the history of Hollywood glamor, and for those not familiar with the subject, it will be a learning experience.

More information about the show: edithhead.biz


A Conversation with Edith Head
Pear Theatre, 1110 La Avenida St, Mountain View CA
Thurs-Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm
Admission:
$15-35

Edith Head: Susan Claassen

PRODUCTION TEAM
Producer: Elizabeth Cruse Craig
Production Designers: James Blair and Susan Claasen
Costume Recreations:  Chris Brewer and Maryann Trombino
Wig Designer: Renate E. Leuschner
Voice and Movement Director: Dianne J. Winslow

Spirits in Migration

The Conference of the Birds

Danie Citlali Valdivieso (Mockingbird), Omar Osoria-Pena (Eagle), Jane Eisner (Goldfinch), Ashley Jaye (Hoopoe), Ben Elie (Duck) photo: Simone Finney

by Sholeh Wolpé
directed by Giulio Cesare Perrone
based on the Sufi poem by Farid ud-Din Attar 
co-produced by Inferno Theater and Ubuntu Theater Project

NOV 30–DEC 16
Brooklyn Preserve
1433 12th Avenue
Oakland, CA 94606

The Conference of the Birds, the 12th-century Sufi gem of Persian literature by Farid ud-Din Attar, is a magical tale about the migration of the soul toward enlightenment. This collaboration of Inferno Theater and Ubuntu Theater Project, directed by Giulio Cesare Perrone, brings us a production based on a recent modernization by Iranian poet Sholeh Wolpé, setting the ancient parable in motion and magic on a shoestring.

After climbing to the second floor of the rather dantesque venue of the Brooklyn Preserve on an Oakland side street, the audience enters a large attic-like space where the floor is covered in Persian rugs. A solitary musician (Amir Etemadzadeh) coaxes mournful and evocative strains from a stringed instrument, and we are greeted by the wise and gentle Attar (Joshua-Morris Williams) who guides us through the story as it unfolds.

Ali-Moosa Mirza (Nightingale), Saira Kaur Mangat (Owl), Omar Osoria-Pena (Eagle) and Jane Eisner (Goldfinch) photo: Simone Finney

The Hoopoe (Ashley Jaye) is an enlightened bird that beseeches the birds of the world to join her on a journey to the Simurgh, the great source of knowledge. Hoopoe warns that although it will be challenging, the rewards will be great. The other birds--Nightingale, Osprey, Goldfinch, Owl, Duck and Parrot--respond in a way that reveals their weaknesses such as vanity, fear, doubt, complacency, and more. Each revealed frailty creates an opportunity for our guide Attar to teach us a lesson with an illustrative story about a spider in a web, moth to flames, a lover and his mistress, and others, acted out.

Joshua-Morris Williams as Attar photo: Simone Finney 

The costumes are simple but creative and full of color, and Annie Hallatt’s bird masks suggest the essence and personality of each bird. The birds move and dance in unison (you must admire the synchronous joy of the actors) as they proceed on their treacherous pilgrimage to Simhurgh, and they must cross the Valleys of the Quest, Love, Understanding, Detachment, Unity, Astonishment, Deprivation and Death. It is not unlike the journey to Oz.

Omar Osoria-Pena photo: Simone Finney

Although The Conference of the Birds is well known in middle eastern cultures, it may not be readily understood by Americans. Providing some explanation of each bird, the lessons, and the steps of the journey would help audiences follow along. Nevertheless, this very simple and engaging production of an ancient Sufi parable brings a relevance that is worth experiencing.


THE CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS
by Sholeh Wolpé
directed by Giulio Cesare Perrone

PERFORMANCES:
NOV 30-DEC 16
Thursdays 12/6 & 12/13: 8pm
Fri & Sat Evenings: 8pm
Sundays,12/2 & 12/9: 7pm
Sundays, 12/16: 2pm

VENUE
Brooklyn Preserve
1433 12th Avenue
Oakland, CA 94606

TICKETS
$15-45 online, pay-what-you-can at door

CAST
Joshua Morris-Williams: Attar
Ashley Jaye: Hoopoe
Sarah Brazier: Parrot, Hoarder Mother, Golden Pheasant
Jane Eisner: Goldfinch, Scientist Moth, Princess, Eqyptian Queen
Ben Elie: Duck, Dervish, American, Majnun
Saira Kaur Mangat: Owl, Dervish Moth, Layli. Sufi, Sheikh
Ali-Moosa Mirza: Nightingale, Adeeb, KingMahmud
Omar Osoria Pena: Osprey, Khizir, Courtier, Moses
Danie Citlali Valdivieso: Mockingbird, Beautiful Woman, Devil, Lovelorn Princess


CREATIVE TEAM
Director: Giulio Cesare Perrone
Assistant Director: Sarah Brazier
Lighting Designer: Danielle Ferguson
Musician/Composer: Amir Etemadzadeh
Costume Designer: Giulio Cesare Perrone
Set Designer: Giulio Cesare Perrone
Movement/Choreography: Ensemble
Mask/Prop Designer: Annie Hallatt

A Very Pemberley Christmas

The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley

Brian (August Browning) keeps his distance from George (Kenny Toll) and Lydia (Madeline Rouveral)

Marin Theatre Company
marintheatre.org
Until December 16, 2018

By Lauren Gunderson & Margot Melcon
Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian

Even the happiest of holidays can stress out any family, including the residents of the Pemberley estate featured in Jane Austen’s 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. What an engine of human dramedy is this novel, inspiring numerous interpretations (including the film Bridget Jones’ Diary).

In The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, playwrights Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon have again revved up the Austen engine to create another holiday spinoff like 2016’s Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. The Wickhams takes place at the same time as Miss Bennet, except in the downstairs realm of the servants who work hard to create, manage and execute the holiday magic that appears so effortless to “upstairs” folk like Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy (David Everett Moore) and Mrs. Elizabeth “Lizzie” Darcy (Melissa Ortiz) and guests.

Downstairs is the domain of Mrs. Russell (​Jennie Brick),  the cook and “operations manager” who bustles and fusses to keep the house running smoothly with the help of the footman Brian (August Browning) and new maid Cassie (Neiry Rojo). There’s so much to be done: orange biscuits to be baked, meals planned, wreaths assembled, decorations prepared, boots polished, and the live evergreen tree cut down and hauled inside as part of the new German novelty in holiday tradition.

Cassie (Geiry Rojo) and Brian (August Browning)

The routine moves like clockwork until a wrench is thrown into the gears, the wrench being the “ne’er do well” George Wickham (a wonderfully scurrilous Kenny Toll) who appears unexpectedly at the servants’ door at Pemberley even though he has been banned from the premises for deceitful and conniving actions regarding his relationship and bargained marriage to Lydia (Madeline Rouverol), the youngest Bennet sister who lives in a ditzy whirl of balls, pretty dresses, and flirtations with men. Lydia has come to visit her sister Lizzie without George, unaware that he’s hiding out downstairs. The whole play is fun and farcical as the staff tries to keep George and the chaos he brings away from the family.

George Wickham (Kenny Toll) sweet talks Mrs. Reynolds (Jennie Brick)

Downstairs is like the backstage before opening night. It’s also an escape for Lizzie and Lydia to literally let their hair down, explode with emotion, and munch on one of those delicious orange cookies. (MTC would do well to sell those cookies in the lobby!) And the whiff of budding romance and a new future for Cassie and Brian is heartwarming.

Lizzie Bennet (Melissa Ortiz) with her sister, Lydia Wickham (Madeline Rouverol)

One thing that MTC does well is the dramaturgical research (Laura A. Brueckner) needed to create authenticity. Courtney Flores’ meticulous costume design brings form and color to the actors’ movements, and Wilson Chin’s scenic design is packed with intriguing details to fill in the experience of working among the servants. MTC displays the research in engaging lobby exhibits to depict life just prior to the Industrial (and thus social) Revolution in England. An innovative and fun touch were the bottles of scents the characters might have experienced in the early 1800s: you could smell the spices, laundry soap, and even brandy.

All performances are solid, with Mrs. Russell, Brian, and Cassie maintaining sanity while George and Lydia rant hysterically and Mr. Darcy and Lizzie strive to maintain decorum.

This latest Christmas jaunt into a secret corner of the Pemberley estate makes for a delightful time at the theater, leading me to wonder what new story will come next year.

Photo credit: Kevin Berne

The Wickhams:  Christmas at Pemberley

Marin Theatre Company

CAST

​Jennie Brick* -- Mrs. Reynolds
August Browning -- Brian
David Everett Moore*  -- Fitzwilliam Darcy
Melissa Ortiz* -- Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy
​Neiry Rojo -- ​Cassie
Madeline Rouverol -- Lydia Wickham
Kenny Toll* -- George Wickham

CREATIVE TEAM
Lauren M. Gunderson -- Playwright
Margot Melcon -- Playwright
​Megan Sandberg-Zakian -- Director
Kevin Johnson* -- Stage Manager
Wilson Chin+ -- Scenic Designer
Courtney Flores -- Costume Designer
Wen-Ling Liao+ -- Lighting Designer
Sharath Patel -- Sound Designer
Jessica Berman -- Dialect Coach
Laura A. Brueckner -- Production Dramaturg
Dori Jacob -- Casting Director