Lauren Gunderson was named the most-produced playwright in the country by American Theatre magazine in 2017 and 2019. I don’t doubt it. By accident, I walked into two consecutive, separate playhouses this weekend and experienced two different Gunderson works—very different works. Both “The Half-Life of Marie Curie” at Albany Civic Theater and “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberly” are very strongly imagined works spun out in their historical periods from a central circumstance featuring indomitable women with a rich and detailed use of language, but the similarities end there. “Marie Curie” is very feminine in structure with little plot, while “Miss Bennet” is a structured affair rising to a climax and a definite conclusion. Happily, both are very funny.
Jennifer Van Iderstine and Laura Darling are Gunderson acolytes who have directed the playwright’s previous productions. Darling takes the reins at ACT and dives in headfirst, producing one of her immersive, intensely detailed, very satisfying pieces of theater. The building positively hums with a sense of purpose and creativity on display. The League of Women Voters is in the lobby rallying civic participation; the lobby and the walls are papered with newspaper pages filled with Curie’s accomplishments, and the imaginative and attractive set by David Zwierankin has a secret that, when revealed, blows your mind. First, with its effect, and then with the growing realization of the sheer number of hours spent on this detail. As if all this were not enough, Laura rehearsed the play twice, using the understudies Ash Visker as Marie and Carol Charniga as Hertha, who will get their own dedicated performance on Friday, December 8.
Jennifer pulls out all the stops, playing Hertha Ayrton, an electromagnetic engineer who arrives at Marie Curie’s (soulful Emily Rae Fernandes) house in France to beat back the crowds upset with Madame Curie’s affair with a married man. Even the Nobel committee wants Marie not to attend the ceremony to pick up her second prize. The play is a swinging meditation on sisterhood, responsibilities, and scientific inquiry. Van Iderstine makes the evening work with her ribald, smoky voice setting ‘em up and knocking ‘em down like she’s slaying at Funny Bones. She had the small audience laughing heartily throughout the 90-minute evening with her detailed understanding of what she was saying that could draw guffaws from her opening line: “There’s a technical problem in the world, and I fixed it. You’re welcome.” Emily is no slouch as the genius scientist, fully investing her with the pain and incomprehension of how the world could treat her so shabbily.
Shadowland Stages Artistic Director Brendan Burke takes on the “Pride & Prejudice” adaptation (co-written by Gunderson and Margot Malcon), which picks up the Austen action at The Darcy’s (the lovely couple are most gracious, comfortable, and appealing as played by Melody Ladd & Ben Williamson) home at Pemberley three days before Christmas, 1815. “Miss Bennet ” is the bookish Mary (the exciting and excitable Mary Cable), who is determined to cloister herself in the library until the dashing and irresistible Arthur de Bough shows up. Late in the first act, the seriously funny Anne de Bourgh (hysterical Katharina Schmidt) shows up as Arthur’s presumptive fiancé. Burke’s production doesn’t miss any of the script’s numerous laughs, but Schmidt creates many of her own. One of my favorites is when she doubles over, pops back upright, and catches her pearls in her mouth.
The production is festive, charming, and attractive, with notable contributions from set by Peter Johnson, wigs by Cindy Johnson, and costumes by Christina English. The Christmas finery was especially winning.
The unexpected gift of the new greatly enhances the spirit of the season. New stories with new perspectives coming from a feminist perspective make the season merry and bright.
“The Half-Life of Marie Curie” plays at Albany Civic Theater, 235 Second Ave., 12/1–12/17. Tickets on Albany Civic Theater’s website or call 518-462-1297
“Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberly” is at Shadowland Stages, 157 Canal St., Ellenville, 12428 12/1–12/17. Tickets are on the Shadowland Stages’ website, or call 845-647-5511.
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