Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...This premiere production is shrewdly cast, with Helen Sadler immersing herself in Marianne, and showing us a girl whose body likes to walk though any open door — and then run away again mad — long before her brain has come to a decision. Sadler energizes the show and also contrasts appealingly with Heidi Kettenring's Elinor, whom Kettenring imbues with a passionate heart and a surging self-doubt. Most important of all, the two sisters feel joined at the emotional hip throughout — when Sadler's Marianne takes ill, Kettenring's sensible face is suddenly wracked with pain. It's a reminder that even the sensible are often floored by the messiness of life."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Jory’s Northlight Theatre world premiere production beautifully heeds all these reminders. What he and his exceptional actors add to the mix is a freshness, speed and immediacy that, while always in sync with the humor, sentiments and manners of Austen’s late 18th century English country-and-city society, gives the storytelling a contemporary energy that is downright irresistible. There is plenty of style here but not a hint of affectation or archness. The production flows like an effortlessly danced gavotte, finding just the right balance between formality, playfulness and the real pain that invariably accompanies love and hope."
Daily Herald - Recommended
"...Adapter and director Jon Jory, formerly of the Actors Theatre of Louisville, faithfully preserves Austen's singular dialogue and the integrity of her estimable heroines. His sprightly production is notable for its solid storytelling, discerning cast and seamless staging, which helps keep Austen's rather involved tale moving forward. Add to that the sincerity and emotional depth the perfectly cast Heidi Kettenring and Helen Sadler bring to Austen's Dashwood sisters and you have an estimable incarnation of the 1811 novel."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...the show's success rests on the Dashwood sisters, and playing them can't be as easy as Heidi Kettenring and Helen Sadler make it look. Both characters have potentially irritating attributes—Elinor's tireless propriety, Marianne's excess of emotion. But Kettenring leavens Elinor's wet-blanket tendencies with sharp wit and a ready laugh, and Sadler conveys such sincerity that Marianne never looks like a fool or a drama queen, even when she's rhapsodizing about dead leaves."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Fortunately, remaining alert has never been easier, thanks to the briskly unflagging pace set by a cast displaying the stamina of marathon runners coupled with the mercurial elation reaffirming our faith in a happy ending to come. Helen Sadler and Heidi Kettenring charm us with grace and tenacity as the Misses Dashwood, while Jay Whittaker and Geoff Rice lend unexpected depth to the suitors who finally prove themselves worthy of the ladies whose affections they would win. But their efforts would be nothing without the auxiliary personnel contributing texture to this giddily artificial universe, especially Wendy Robie, whose meddling Mrs. Jennings does double duty as facilitator and foil to her befuddled peers."
Centerstage - Recommended
"...Certainly, though, the players and artists are to be commended. This is a lovely production, succeeding admirably in telling a convoluted story with many characters in a brisk manner. Much care is taken to make the story understandable, which is appreciated; there are even family trees in the lobby of the theater, explaining each characters’ relation to the other. All in all, eminently pleasant; and, if that is what you are looking for, then this is the show for you."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...Jane Austen turned her hand to dramatic adaptation on at least one occasion; her only surviving dramatic work stages scenes from Samuel Richardson’s novel Sir Charles Grandison, most likely for private performance. So the novelist would likely approve of Jory’s efforts, which deftly turn her 1811 fable about the Dashwood sisters into a quick-moving and sprightly comedy. The adapter wisely forgoes any attempt to transfer Austen’s inimitable narrative voice, trusting in her canny sense of character and incident to convey the story’s wry insight and emotional depth."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...We cheer for the sisters to gain true love as we sort out and guess who’ll end up with whom. This charming, funny, and heartfelt drama is a wonderful period piece filled with terrific acting and articulate speech. The players are dressed in colorful period costumes (costumes designed by Rachel Laritz). This show is elegantly stylish with compelling characters that we quickly empathize with. Sense & Sensibility is more that merely a “women’s show,” it is a marvelous glimpse into the foibles of romance."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...But the true colors are in the characters and the casting is everything Austen must have sought, including a delightful Franette Liebow as their simpering mother, Wendy Robie as the match-making Mrs. Jennings, Si Osborne as the well-meaning brother, and Diane Mair as desperately unattached Lucy Steele. Each portrayal is a short story inside of a novel."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...Jane Austen’s novels are geared for women readers and thus those made into plays will appeal to that gender as well. Jon Jory, who did the adaptation of Austen’s “Sense & Sensibility” now on stage at The Northlight Theatre in Skokie, and who also directs this stirring novel/play, has been doing her works for many years and in doing so has found a sort of kinship with this brilliant writer."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...Sense and Sensibility is an enchanting happily-ever-after story. As a woman with a little of both, the sophisticated dialogue is intellectually riveting and the known outcome still made me weepy."
