Last Day for City Theatre’s ‘Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberly’ (Sun., 12/17/23)

MISS BENNET: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY (comedy) by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, directed by Kyle Haden. City Theatre. Through December 17.

City Theatre’s ‘Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley’ has (l. to r.) Gabrielle Kogut, Sophia Macy, and Hansel Tan. (Photo: Kristi Jan Hoover)

Mary, the bookish middle sister of the five Bennet sisters whose “high station” antics comprise most of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, celebrates Christmas at the palatial estate of her brother-in-law, Fitzwilliam Darcy, married now to Elizabeth. The story unfolds two years after the conclusion of Austen’s 1813 novel. All of the Bennets, Darcys and Bingleys are flitting around somewhere when an unexpected guest is welcomed into the festive fray. Mary manages to lift her nose from a book to take notice. If, indeed, she “admires the activity of [the man’s] benevolence,” she certainly intends not to “depreciate the pleasures.”  Which is all to suggest that City Theatre’s holiday offering is steeped––like a welcome cup of Earl Grey––in the rich and restorative joys of Jane Austen’s classic world. 2 p.m. 1300 Bingham St., South Side. (C.P.O.)

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