Stage Review - The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley (SecondStory Rep)

Stage Review - The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley
Presented By: SecondStory Repertory - Redmond, WA
Show Run: December 06 - December 29, 2024
Date Reviewed: Thursday, December 19, 2024
Run Time: 120 Minutes (including a 15-minute intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman

This isn’t the first, and it probably won’t be the last Christmas season that I’ll mention my shaky relationship with Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I never really grew up with the story of the Bennet sisters, Mr. Darcy and his old frenemy Wickham, but as long as theaters include one of Lauren Gunderson’s follow-ups to the Pride and Prejudice story in their holiday schedules, these are characters that I’m going to need to become and stay intimately familiar with. The good news is, Gunderson’s stories are so engaging and well written, her characterizations so compelling, that it makes one desire to go back to the original story to fill in the background detail that informs her work. Her plays can stand on their own, of course, but they work even better when there’s an understanding of the history of the people that she’s depicting in the stories. Last Christmas, SecondStory Rep (SSR) presented the more popular of the Gunderson sequels, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, co-written with Margot Melcon and set two years after Pride and Prejudice, in a production directed by Elizabeth Tanner. This year, and currently running on stage in Redmond through December 29, SSR is running the companion piece to “Miss Bennet”, The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, with Elizabeth Tanner back at the directing helm and with Tadd Morgan reprising his role as Mr. Darcy, Jillian Faulk back as Lizzy, now Mrs. Darcy, and Alysha Curry as Lydia, Mrs. George Wickham. Whereas “Miss Bennet” takes place during Christmas on the ground floor of Pemberley, “The Wickhams” transpires at the same time, but has its focus downstairs in the servants quarters, allowing Gunderson and co-writer Melcon to create a play that has the same humor and heart of “Miss Bennet” and the original Pride and Prejudice, while at the same time providing them with the ability to introduce some new characters and additional and adjacent plot lines. The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley is a play that has a little bit of everything, class distinctions, intrigue, love, forgiveness, conflict, a little bit of Christmas magic, and a whole lot of biscuits.

As the Christmas celebration is happening upstairs, the servants quarters are abuzz. No-nonsense housekeeper Mrs. Reynolds is working on preparations for both the Darcys and their guests, as well as the upcoming Boxing Day holiday, when things are shaken up by the arrival of a new maid, Cassie, an old friend of footman and tinkerer Brian, whom it seems he has taken a newfound shine to. They all begin to settle in, and things seem to be going smoothly, save for some visits to the servants floor by Lizzy or sister Lydia, visiting without husband George Wickham, he having been banned from the house by Mr. Darcy as a result of his past transgressions, or by Mr. Darcy himself, to get away from the crowd upstairs, each discovering Mrs. Reynolds’ excellent biscuits on each visit. But once the group believes they can take a collective breath, in stumbles the aforementioned Wickham, a bit drunk and a lot beat up, fresh from an altercation in town. His visit is bound to throw the entire holiday into complete chaos, a typical visit from Wickham that includes broken promises, a confrontation that gets physical, and conversations overheard that will change the fate of the Darcys and Bennets moving forward. While this is happening, the servants are busy negotiating their place in their world and its social class hierarchy, relationships among themselves and between themselves and their employers, and the passage of time.

The design of this show is exquisite, Mark Chenovick’s set is not just a solid depiction of what his vision of the servants quarters at Pemberley is, but the whole pre-Victorian design is striking, centered by a large fireplace above which resides a mantle and, I have to assume the Darcy, coat of arms. The manner in which Mark has laid out the space is functional for Elizabeth’s movement, and the little details are all there, case in point the portraits on the wall going to the sleeping quarters flow out of the sight line of the audience, which provides the implication of flow off of the stage, rather than just stopping abruptly, which I’ve seen in other sets. The ingress and egress points from the main set area are well positioned for the actors entrances and exits, and the use of the stairs toward the rear of the set ties in with what is going on upstairs with the Darcy Christmas celebration. In addition to the set, Gwyn Scone’s lighting is soft, making it feel like it’s on the lower floor, in an area where there might not be as much lighting generally, surely not as much natural light as there would be upstairs. The entire production design feels right, it all gives the feeling of that pre-Victorian era when these characters lived, and that includes the costume work from Krista Lofgren. Krista’s costumes run the gamut from the servants’ uniforms, Mrs. Reynolds’ is especially nice, to the Bennet sisters’ dresses, and the wardrobes donned by Darcy and Wickham. Each is layered and put together and tailored to each of the actors nicely.

The actors, of course are just as important in making this feel like it’s a believable continuation from the Jane Austen story, through their performances, and a key to that is in the delivery of their accents. Kudos to dialect coach Grace Helmcke and the cast, the accents here are varied, each reflecting the characters’ social standing, the Darcys and Wickhams have more refined accents, while footman Brian, maid Cassie, and especially Mrs. Reynolds, each have dialects that reflect their positions in service. When each accent is just a bit different than others in the same show, and the actors can maintain their individual dialect or drawl consistently throughout without breaking, as this cast does, it’s simply impressive and a pleasure to experience.

Mrs. Reynolds is this play’s version of, for Downton Abbey fans, Mr. Carson, the butler that is not just the glue that holds the servants quarters together, but the house as a whole. Pemberley would not run without Mrs. Reynolds, and “The Wickhams” would not run without Ingrid Sanai Buron, who plays the taskmaster, no-nonsense housekeeper. Ingrid’s performance is so good, from the way she carries herself on stage with confidence, to her strong and consistent vocal delivery and accent, it’s a commanding portrayal. Ingrid plays her role with a tough exterior but also with a good heart. It’s her character, after all, that is the one who gives Wickham a chance to stay at Pemberley after he comes stumbling in, as long as he doesn’t let himself be found by anyone else, especially Mr. Darcy. And of course, he does, but not before he meets the other servants, footman Brian, played by Stav Hinezon, and Cassie, played by Aradia Webb. Stav and Aradia both play their characters very well, Stav’s Brian is the tinkerer, the inventor who is a bit smitten with his old friend and a bit jealous when Wickham arrives and begins chatting her up, while Cassie is the nervous newcomer, starstruck upon meeting the family from upstairs, and of little self-confidence, though it’s something she works on building as the play progresses and Aradia manages that aspect of the character quite well. One thing I’ll also say about this group, and this applies to everyone in the cast, and that is in how they project. At SecondStory Rep, I find that the best seat in the house is in the middle in the back row, and I mainly sit there in order to take in the set, as Mark’s work is best viewed in its entirety, in one visual frame so to speak, but that also means of course that I’m farther away from the stage. Softer spoken actors can be challenging to hear at that distance, even in SSR’s smallish space, but in “The Wickhams”, that’s not an issue. Each cast member projects extremely well, and I think it’s important to distinguish between projecting and yelling, or talking loudly. It never sounds forced, it just sounds full, and as a result, there are no “what did they say?” moments, which can happen especially with accents involved.

As I mentioned previously, Tadd Morgan is back, reprising the role of Mr. Darcy, as is Jillian Faulk back as his wife Lizzy. Jillian is a solid Mrs. Darcy, especially in the way she attempts to maintain control over a tedious situation when she discovers that the uninvited Wickham has arrived, knowing what that knowledge would do to her husband. Lizzy has a good relationship with the staff, and especially Mrs. Reynolds, Jillian working very well together with Ingrid, and of course the chemistry between Tadd and her is strong, it’s clear the level of comfort they both have in playing these characters. Tadd is indeed excellent as Mr. Darcy, he’s got the posture and poise of someone of Darcy’s stature, and his accent and mannerisms reveal his social standing. Tadd’s best work, though, comes in Act 2, after his Darcy has, in fact, discovered the stowaway Wickham, played by Chazz Kaskes. Chazz’ Wickham has many qualities, and not a lot of them are good. He’s drunk, he’s a bit of a womanizer and a cheat, and he’s incredibly rude. Chazz plays each of these characteristics incredibly well, and in that Act 2 scene with Tadd, when their conversation turns to argument turns to altercation, the pair show their prowess in a scene that is by far the most passionately acted and exciting to watch of the play. The scene is a turning point in the story, and these two are exemplary in its performance. This, of course, isn’t to say that there’s no passion in any of the other scenes, “The Wickhams” is full of emotion and passion, and a lot of humor as well. It’s a testament to the work that both Elizabeth and her cast has put into building these characters that bring out those aspects of their personalities in each scene. And perhaps no other character is as full of personality, or emotional range in this play as Lydia, Mrs. Wickham, in a role reprised from last year’s “Miss Bennet” by Alysha Curry. Lydia is exuberant, full of life, a bit naive, and thoroughly and completely in love with her husband George, and can’t possibly think of a reason why he wouldn’t be allowed at Pemberley. When George does arrive, Alysha’s Lydia is over the moon, but she soon learns some things about her husband that turns her world upside down and sends her on an emotional roller coaster that takes her from the highest high to the lowest low. It’s a navigation of emotion that Alysha is adept at, and as a result her character is one of the most enjoyable to watch in the play.

The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, this year’s holiday production at SecondStory Rep, the companion piece to their offering last year, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, and Lauren Gunderson’s sequel work to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, is a look at the other side of the social hierarchy in which the Darcys, Wickhams, and Bennets reside, the lower level of the estate and the servants quarters. Combining some familiar characters along with some new ones, the story is complementary to “Miss Bennet” and has all of the humor and heart of that story as well as that of Austen’s original work. With a director and three cast members returning, it feels like SecondStory hasn’t lost a step from “Miss Bennet”, and “The Wickhams” is just continuing the wonderful story that was last year’s production. “The Wickhams” is a wonderful holiday escape, to a different time, but a time when people faced the same challenges we still do today, socioeconomic conflicts and relationship challenges, and find support in the same places, in family, love, forgiveness, and hope. With an exquisite design and a cast that is both so talented and fun to watch, The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley is full of all of the things that make the holidays feel magical.

The SecondStory Rep production of The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley runs on stage at Redmond Town Center through December 29. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://www.secondstoryrep.org/.

Photo credit: Michael Brunk (NW Lens)