Take a hearty dollop of Jane Austen romance, sprinkle in a dash of Oscar Wilde wit, and you’ve got Kathryn Farren’s Embridge, now captivating L.A. theatergoers in its World Premiere engagement at San Pedro’s Little Fish Theatre.

The year is 1866 (about midway between Austen’s Pride And Prejudice and Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest) and an advantageous marriage for her younger daughter Emily (Corrinne Mica) is foremost on Mrs. Martin’s (Annie Vest) mind, even if that means the unfortunate creature must the knot with Sir Thomas (James Rice), a doddering old moneybags somewhere between ancient and death.

If only Emily’s sister Mabel (Farren) weren’t so averse to wedded bliss (and therefore ineligible to marry “that disgusting dirty old materialistic piece of filth”), the younger Miss Martin might be granted permission to walk down the aisle with the age-appropriate Mr. Worthing (Daniel Gallai), the handsome young Member Of Parliament she loves.

In the meantime, Mabel and Emily’s older brother Frank’s (Jamie Pierce) dashing American chum William Rosmand (Brian O’Sullivan) is spending a fortnight with the Martins at Embridge, Sir Thomas’s handsome personal secretary Henry Robbins (Ryan Knight) is showing an interest in Mabel (and he’s not the only one), and Martin family retainers Logan (Don Schlossman) and Mabel (Shirley Ritter Hatton) are conspiring to meddle, all of the above to Jane Austen/Oscar Wilde fans’ delight.

Mabel, for one, might easily be an Austen creation, believing as she does that “men without money marry rich women, and women without means hunt for a husband with a good situation, and love never seems to enter the equation at all,” and her brother Frank recalls many a witty Wilde bachelor. (When Emily declares her intention to kill herself should she be forced to marry Sir Thomas, then objects when her brother tells her to go ahead and do it, his response is a pseudo-sincere “I am simply being supportive.”)

Playwright Farren mines plenty of chuckles from Mrs. Martin’s air-headedness. (She keeps forgetting that her husband is away, and even when she does remember, she thinks he’s in Bath, not London.) Another frequent laugh-getter is Emily’s constant state of tearful hysterics where Sir Thomas is concerned. And the servants provoke plenty of titters when they hide behind curtains the better to eavesdrop, then retort with a sassy “If you want privacy, you need to speak somewhere more private.”

Farren’s script could do with a few more Wildean bons mots to emphasize the Oscar, so delicious are the several she’s come up with. (Mrs. Martin tells Mabel to “stop having such a strong disposition. It is quite unbecoming on a woman.”) And the voice-over narration that opens the show could recur more than just once to give Embridge an even more Austenian feel.

 Still, this is a largely accomplished piece of writing, and even more delightful as directed with abundant effervescence (and particularly smooth scene changes) by Margaret Schugt and performed by an almost perfect cast, in particular its leading lady, who’s got Mabel’s prickly charm down pat, and no wonder since she wrote the piece.

The opening-weekend performance reviewed did have the occasional gaffe. (A wedding ring worn by an unmarried character, contemporary glasses not removed until after an entrance.) And Gallai’s sideburns when playing Mr. Gardner were so obviously fake, I kept thinking maybe he was Mr. Worthing in disguise. (Wrong.)

But these are minor quibbles.

Scenic designer Tristan Griffin and properties designer Collette Rutherford do a terrific job of conjuring up a comfortable English country estate on Little Fish’s matchbox-size stage, vibrantly lit by Charlotte Tierney.

Sound designer Schugt adds an uber-romantic musical underscoring throughout and Aja Morris-Smiley’s 1860s outfits are elegant mid-19th-century treats (even if the comfortably-off Martin women could do with an additional hoop-skirted dress or two).

Jacob Severance is stage manager.

Aptly billed as “Jane Austen Meets Oscar Wilde” and a scrumptious treat to boot, Kathryn Farren’s enchanting Embridge does both Jane and Oscar proud.

Little Fish Theatre, 777 Centre St. San Pedro.
www.littlefishtheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
November 23, 2019
Photos: Mickey Elliot

Tags: Jane Austen, Kathryn Farren, Little Fish Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review, Oscar Wilde