'Christmas at Pemberley': Vortex Theatre's 'The Wickhams' brings a 'Downton Abbey' approach to Jane Austen's characters

Nov. 27—Albuquerque is celebrating a Jane Austen Christmas.

While the Adobe Theater is staging "Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley," the Vortex Theatre is producing "The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley," centering on the tempestuous Bennet sister Lydia. Playwrights Lauren Gunderson and Margo Melcon penned both as companion pieces to the Austen classic "Pride and Prejudice."

"The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley" opens at the Vortex on Friday, Dec. 1, running through Dec. 17.

The play takes more of a "Downton Abbey" approach than its forebears by including the downstairs servants.

"Lauren Gunderson is the most-produced playwright in America now," said director Leslee Richards. "We've been talking about doing it (with the Adobe) for a year. She's a very clever playwright."

Don't worry; you don't need to know anything about "Pride and Prejudice" or "Miss Bennet" to enjoy this yuletide tale.

Set in Regency-era England, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are now a happily married couple living on his large estate, Pemberley. It's the beginning of the holiday season and everyone is busy preparing for a house full of visitors. The new players — Mrs. Reynolds, Brian and Cassie — are overloaded by their work in the "kitchen," where the play takes place.

"The work is brutally hard," Richards said.

The returning characters from previous iterations are Elizabeth, Darcy, Elizabeth's shallow sister Lydia, and her treacherous husband, George Wickham. These new and familiar faces carry themes of feminism and privilege from the play's source material onto the stage.

"It's an interesting take on feminism because of the young maid Cassie," Richards said. "This is her first job. She has been raised by the village. Her parents died when she was very young. Yet, she knows who she is and what she wants.

"She wants to be someplace where her work is valued, like we all do," Richards continued. "She wants to be somewhere she feels safe."

Lydia, the Bennet sister who ran off with her ne'er-do-well husband Wickham, forcing Mr. Darcy to pay him to marry her, is her opposite.

George Wickham reigns at the top of Elizabeth and Darcy's "do not admit" list, but he crashes the party anyway.

The naïve Lydia fell for the dashing scoundrel, who grew up as the son of the steward at Pemberley. He was like a brother to Mr. Darcy until Wickham betrayed him.

The play reveals how the Darcy's servants, Mrs. Reynolds, Brian and Cassie, feel about their employer's odd interpretations of the family's convoluted story.

The servants attempt, unsuccessfully, of course, to keep Wickham from spreading his specific brand of scandalous chaos.

They must each balance their holiday preparations with keeping Mr. Wickham confined. Old grudges and new misunderstandings reach a boiling point, and as the festivities spiral into chaos, Pemberley's residents struggle to keep peace without taking sides.

The cast features Ed Chavez as Wickham; Kenzie Ross as Lydia; Colyn Morris as Cassie and Carolyn Ward as Mrs. Reynolds.