Smith College Department of Theatre performed “You on the Moors Now,” a play by Jaclyn Brackhaus from Feb. 28–Mar. 2. The experience was a whirlwind, satirical, hyper-feminist fanfiction based on four classic novels — “Pride and Prejudice,” “Little Women,” “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights.” Essentially, every literary-minded Smithie’s dream. In the play, the major heroines from these four novels — Elizabeth Bennet, Jo March, Jane Eyre and Cathy — embark on a full-scale gender war with the men who pursue them — Darcy, Laurie, Rochester and Heathcliff, respectively.
The plot proved ambitious, entertaining and seemed to be left, more often than not, up to the audience’s interpretation. By which I mean half of the time I had little to no idea what was happening. Key questions were left unanswered. The “who’s” were often questionable, partly because the audience was left to assume the characters’ identities based on context clues for the majority of the first act. Also, some cast members were playing multiple characters, sometimes even shifting roles in the middle of a scene or dialogue, which only added to the confusion. The “when’s” were answered in the title: supposedly in the present but also stretched over the course of ten years with concurrent scenes intertwined with time jumps of varying lengths. The “where’s” were also explained by the title — supposedly “on the moors,” but they frequently shifted from the mystical “moors” into real settings and locations (Massachusetts, England and New York City, to name a few). There was even one reference to “the moors of the sky.” And don’t ask me to tell you what that means, because that, too, was left up to interpretation.
That being said, for what it was — an ambitious combination of these revered stories into an irreverent sometimes slapstick comedy, the play was successful. It drew largely on the original plots of the novels but was also in conversation with their modern adaptations — the iconic hand clench from “Pride and Prejudice” 2005 anyone? — and contained clever caricatures of the male wooers in question. It also pulled from a larger canon of popular culture, such as when the characters performed Sharpay and Ryan’s legendary warm-up from High School Musical.
A good portion of the play’s laugh-out-loud comedy came from Smith’s phenomenal cast. Our heroines — portrayed by Danny Maggs, Lily Sickman-Garner ’25, Violet Metta Paulsen ’25 and Jane MacLaughlin ’24 — struck just the right balance of sensibility true to the original texts with an ironic modern twist. Our would-be romancers — portrayed by Audrey Weir ’26, Lila Rutishauser ’24, Mia Boydston ’27 and Jamie Leigh Rambin ’24 — pulled off the whole affair of poking fun at the original male leads with unparalleled style. Rambin’s portrayal of Heathcliff as the “emo” man of the moors was especially notable, as was the energy between “the Boys,” which fluctuated between a pack of douchebag “frat bros” and a gaggle of self-important young men who idolize Napoleon a bit too much.
The underdog star performers were the five actors who shifted between roles throughout the play — Lindsey Bloom of Mount Holyoke College, Alina Tschumakow ’26, Lucia Boulton ’27, Silas MacLean Cummings Ledbetter ’24 and Katie Wilson ’26 — who portrayed a varied but familiar cast of characters such as the Bingleys from “Pride and Prejudice,” the River siblings from “Jane Eyre,” Nelly Dean and Joseph from “Wuthering Heights,” the March family from “Little Women” and more. These five actors shifted seamlessly between roles, flawlessly portraying a couple of old surly servants on the English countryside before shifting to pull-off a comical representation of the March sisters minutes later, or even shifting roles within the same scene.
So there you have it: “You on the Moors Three Weeks Ago,” an albeit flawed but wildly entertaining comedy that brings you classic literature like you’ve never seen it before. A play which the Smith Department of Theatre pulled off with flying colors, with ad-libs by actors, admirable physical comedy and hilarious but often heartfelt performances. I would say go see it but, alas, it has moved into the realm of “the Moors of the Sky.”
