Sense and Sensibility: HRVHS Theater Department takes on fast-paced, updated classic

How quick moving?

All of the props are on wheels because scene changes happen often — every time someone comes on or leaves, it’s the start of a new scene.

“So sometimes, a scene is 10 or 12 lines long and then it changes to a new scene,” Harry explained.

Putting the actors on roller skates was vetoed “for obvious reasons,” she joked, so wheels were placed on the furniture instead. But the fast pace has a purpose.

“I realized that Kate Hamill was writing in such a way as to portray the speed at which events happened to Elinor and Marianne,” Harry writes in the show program’s directors notes. “After their father’s death, their life appeared to be spinning out of control.”

But, she noted, as soon as you put furniture on wheels and have actors very noticeably moving the pieces around, “the whole idea of conventional theater disappears.”

And that’s true: This play includes one character who is a puppet, vertical beds that change into portraits, and actors portray horses and dogs … in period, human costumes.

“We’re not sticking with reality here,” she said.

There’s a great scene where Lucy Steele confides in Elinor Dashwood (played by Sofie Larsen-Teskey and Aleeyah Enriquez, respectively), the two being moved in circles while seated on chairs to insinuate a fight.

Because of the rolling props, the actors not only have lines to memorize, but moves. The play is a “giant dance that lasts for two hours, and (the actors) have to have every step memorized,” said Harry.

The show has been a collaborative one between Harry and her students, she noted, because of all the moving parts.

“It’s been very fun trying to figure it all out,” she said.

For those not familiar with the story, “Sense and Sensibility” follows the Dashwood sisters, sensible Elinor and sensitive Marianne (played by Kelsey Stewart), after the sudden death of their father leaves the family destitute and vulnerable.

Though their half-brother John (Alex Bertadillo) promises to care for his sisters, his wife Fanny (Kendra Wilkins) quickly convinces him that his father didn’t mean to financially take care of the family — just to help them move house.

Once removed to the country in a modest cottage, the Dashwoods (Mrs. Dashwood is played by Freya Chase, Margaret by Izzy Gibson) are regularly joined by cousins Sir John Middleton (Seth Kelly) and Lady Middleton (Larsen-Teskey, one of many actors who does double duty), and the well-meaning Mrs. Jennings (Atari Gauthier).

And then there’s the dashing scoundrel John Willoughby (Erick Lizama), the steadfast Colonel Brandon (Liam Baker) and shy Edward Ferrars (Ren Tappert) all jockeying for the women’s affections.

 A group of gossips, played by an ensemble, is always in the mix. (Pay attention to the music: Each character is represented by a specific instrument, said Harry, whose son, Duncan Krummel, composed original music for the production.)

The dialogue is quick and witty, matching the pace of the always-changing sets.

“I enjoy the take on the social class system … (and) the busybody nature of the townspeople as well,” Harry writes in her directors notes. “Besides, who doesn’t like a good romance?”