Jane Austen’s best-known statement about her work comes from a letter she wrote to her niece in September of 1814. If a novel was what one wanted to write, “3 or 4 Families in a Country Village is the very thing to work on,” wrote Aunt Jane, who had published Pride and Prejudice the year before.
The quotation has encouraged misunderstandings. The most persistent contends that in focusing so tightly, Austen sacrificed the people who made the privileged lives of her protagonists possible. Where later works like Downton Abbey make a point of going downstairs and offering the view from below, superficial readings of Austen’s novels sometimes assume that this perspective was something she overlooked.
It’s this “downstairs at Pemberley” perspective that will be explored from December 2 through December 19 when The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley arrives on stage at Ensemble Theatre Company’s New Vic. The second in a trilogy of Pride and Prejudice sequels crafted for the stage by playwrights Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, what remains implicit in Pride and Prejudice receives a hearty welcome and sustained attention in The Wickhams. Whether or not it vindicates the immortal Jane of all charges associated with her famous statement about the “3 or 4 Families,” The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley is sure to delight anyone who enjoys a good romantic comedy, and all but the fussiest of Austen fans.