I and You and a surprise ending

 

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Caroline (Amia Korman) and Anthony (Jay Westbrook) in Citadel Theatre’s
“I and You” (North Shore Camera Club photo)

Highly recommended

Meet Caroline and Anthony, two teenagers in playwright Lauren Gunderson’s “I and You.” On stage now at Citadel Theatre in North Suburban Lake Forest, the show is way more than about two exceptionally bright teens who seem to have an English lit assignment on Walt Whitman due the next day.

Before you see the show, and you should absolutely go, know that Whitman was a 19th century American poet and essayist who wrote the famed and controversial poetry collection “Leaves of Grass” and favored free verse, realism and transcendentalism.

It is fine to have high expectations of this production. Perfectly fine-tuned by Director Scott Shallenbarger, beautifully interpreted by Korman and Westbrook, it is a well imagined tale by Gunderson, author of Citadel’s recently acclaimed “Silent Sky” production.

Caroline, confined to her room due to acute illness or condition, and Anthony who visits her there to supposedly finish a school project, debate Whitman,  sickness, death, life and hope in the show’s 90 minute, three-act time frame.

You truly won’t predict the ending.

DETAILS: “I and You” is at Citadel Theatre, (in a school building) 300 S. Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, IL now through March 23, 2025. Running Time: 90 Min. no intermission. For more information and tickets call (847) 735-8554.

Jodie Jacobs

For more shows visit https://www.theatreinchicago.com/

 

Christmas at Pemberley saga continues with delightful Downton Abbey style intrigue

Will Mobley (George Wickham) and Jennifer Latimore (Lydia nee Bennet Wickham) in 'The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley' at NOrthlight Theatre. (Phots by Liz Lauren)
Will Mobley (George Wickham) and Jennifer Latimore (Lydia nee Bennet Wickham) in ‘The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley’ at NOrthlight Theatre. (Phots by Liz Lauren)

4 stars

Audiences move below the stairs in “The Wickams: Christmas at Pemberley,” the second part of a trilogy that started with “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley.

Co-written by playwrights Lauren Gunderson (“Book of Will”) and Margot Mekon (former Marin Theatre New Play Development Director) Jane Austen fans will recognize some of the characters, their foibles and charm, as inspired by Pride & Prejudice.

Indeed, the troubles between Fitzwilliam Darcy (Luigi Scottile) and George Wickham (Will Mobley) start in the famed Austen story and reach another scandalous level in Part Two about the Bennets and the Darcys.

In a letter to her sister, Lizzy (Elizabeth Darcy played by Netta Walker), Lydia Wickham, née Bennet, portrayed by Jennifer Latimore, says she is coming to Pemberley for Christmas. Lydia’s husband, George, a gambler and unscrupulous womanizer, is not welcome at the Darcy estate.

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