Everybody knows the Dashwood sisters. Elinor, the careful one. Marianne, the feeling one. Sense and sensibility, the two ways of moving through the world that give the book its name.
What most versions leave out is Margaret.
In Sense and Sensibility… and Margaret, now on stage at The Spotlight Playhouse, Margaret Dashwood gets the part she never gets in the novel. She tells the story. The youngest Dashwood, an aspiring novelist in the early 1800s, sits in a cafe and walks the audience back through her family’s ups and downs. Elinor and Marianne still face love, loss, and the choices that change everything. But this time the person watching it all unfold is the one who used to be sent upstairs.
That shift is the whole point of the show. It is also a good reason to see it.
The Bluegrass Players present Sense and Sensibility… and Margaret, written by Rebecca Gellott and based on the novel by Jane Austen. It runs August 28 through September 5 at The Spotlight Playhouse, 214 Richmond Road in Berea. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 4:00 p.m. The show runs about two hours and twenty minutes, and it is family-friendly and appropriate for all ages.
Why a story told by its youngest witness hits differently
Margaret is not the lead in her own family’s drama. She is the one noting who said what, who arrived late, who pretended not to care. Put her in charge of the telling and the familiar Austen plot becomes something closer to how families actually work. The quiet kid in the corner was paying attention the whole time.
The production leans into that with a large, colorful cast and quick scenes that move between “present day” and the Dashwoods’ past. It is romance and humor and heart, but the engine is Margaret deciding what her family’s story means.
The practical part
Friday performances are Pay What You Can, which means you name your own price at the box office. Unsold tickets open two hours before showtime, so a plan made at the last minute still works. Front-row seating is wheelchair accessible with companion space, and if you have special needs, the theater just asks that you let them know when you arrive.
Why come now
If you have seen Sense and Sensibility before, this is the version that hands the pen to the sister who was always listening. If you have never seen it, this is a good place to start, because Margaret makes sure nobody gets left out of the telling.
The Bluegrass Players bring it to the stage through special arrangement with Pioneer Drama Service. Come see which sister you agree with.