oh Miss Bennet, the fan fiction is calling

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley by Lauren Gunderson & Margot Melcon, Theatre Works Silicon Valley

This play is a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, and its spirit is pure fan fiction, the open wish-fulfillment of finding an appropriate mate for the neglected Bennet sister, Mary (who has succeeded to the formal title of "Miss Bennet" now that both her elder sisters are married).

Her obvious mate is one Arthur de Bourgh, a cousin of Darcy and of Anne de Bourgh previously unknown to history. A major part of this play, and in truth the best part, is the attempt by two nerdish Asperger's types to try to fit in to the social customs of the Jane Austen era.

None of the existing characters really matched up closely with the book or with well-known adaptations, but some were better than others. Mary could best be described as being polished up. She's more accomplished at her art (mostly playing Beethoven at the piano, including pieces that probably hadn't been written yet) and less quite so awkward. But her sisters remark on how she's matured, and considering her supposed age that's reasonable.

But Lizzy didn't remind us (B. went with me to this one) of any previous incarnation of Lizzy, being giddy, more like Lydia. Anne has somehow grown up to be like her mother, a real shock because she wasn't like that in the book at all, and this time a comment from another character wasn't enough to cover it. Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley also lack some of the flavor associated with them, and spend most of the play serving as advisors to the lovelorn, trying futilely to relate their experiences of falling in love to Arthur's.

The three-level set - including a library room which immediately attracts both Mary and Arthur - was stunning, and the portrait of Austen on the wall was noted with pleasure. But the acting was mixed. The leads were good, especially in the tall Arthur's way of cringing when he's embarrassed, which he is frequently, but the Lydia didn't really fit the flighty character well, and both Lizzy and Anne talked too fast and didn't enunciate clearly enough.

But you don't go to this for any of that other stuff. You go to watch Mary Bennet fall in love. That's something of a wish-fulfillment for me, because I'm convinced she would have been the Bennet girl for me. Lydia and Kitty, they are not for me, and Jane and Lizzy, I am not for them. But Mary, even in her hamhanded book incarnation, would be someone I could imagine being with, and Arthur is a far more perfect mate for her than that.

This is a play for the warm fuzzies and only the warm fuzzies.