Lifeline Theatre Presents SENSE & SENSIBILITY: EPISODE 1 Review — Love and Heartbreak

A knock sounds on the door. Elinor Dashwood calls out, “One moment!” Ignoring her, the knock sounds again, and Elinor, forever cool and collected, laughs at the urgency in the knock. She opens the door. Then ensues an awkward conversation between her and Edward Ferrars, her half-brother-in-law, who is immediately smitten with her if his flustered and halting speech gives any indication. A polite Elinor does her best to keep up with Edward’s lack of skill at conversation. Those experienced with Jane Austen know where this is going.

Based on the novel by Jane Austen, Lifeline Theatre’s Sense & Sensibility introduces us to Dashwood sisters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret. After the recent death of their father and due to the laws of primogeniture in England that requires property to be passed to the closest living male relative, their house no longer belongs to them. Rather, Norland Park is John and Fanny Dashwood’s. Kicked out of their home, the Dashwoods make their way to Barton Cottage to live there for the time being. What follows is an introduction of all sorts of characters, voices, love, and heartbreak.

Lifeline Theatre Plays with Emotion and Practicality

Of the variety of personalities and characters we meet in Sense & Sensibility, none are as opposite as Elinor and Marianne. Incredibly close, their outlook on love and life is vastly different. After meeting the dashing Mr. Willoughby in a damsel-in-distress incident, Marianne falls headfirst for him. When she speaks of and to him, her voice flows with passion. As a result, everybody in town knows of her attachment to him and, supposedly, his to her.

Sensible Elinor harbors a burgeoning romance with Edward, who had been visiting his sister, Fanny Dashwood, when we are first introduced to him. Unlike Marianne, she refuses to outright admit her love for Edward. Against Marianne’s passion, Elinor’s calm voice speaks of their friendship, nothing more. Her neutral voice almost convinces us of their friendship, but the slightest hint of her sister’s passion escapes her. As a very practical person, Elinor doesn’t believe in being romantic towards a person if an engagement hasn’t been set yet.

“I do not attempt to deny I think very highly of him, that I greatly esteem, that I like him,” Elinor says.

“Esteem him? Like him? Use those words again and I will leave this room this moment…You love him,” Marianne says, incredulous.