ARTS . Theater Review

People's Lite

Anne of Green Gables, Through Feb. 11, People's Light & Theatre, 39 Conestoga Rd.


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Published: Jan 23, 2007

Plenty of novel adaptations succeed on stage, but never has one made me want to read the book like Peter DeLaurier's charming version of Anne of Green Gables. Can L. M. Montgomery's 99-year-old story about an orphan in 1890s rural Canada really be as delightful and rich?

Erin Clare Hurley plays the title character, mistakenly sent to siblings Marilla (Ceal Phelan) and Matthew (DeLaurier), who wanted an asylum boy to help on their modest farm. Twelve-year-old Anne's humorous histrionics — the simplest events inspire grand, poetic passions — reveal a desperate neediness: "I've never belonged to anybody," she confesses.

DeLaurier and director Shannon O'Donnell wisely focus not only on Anne's maturation over five years — which happens so effortlessly and naturally that we're pleasantly surprised when Hurley's precocious child grows into a complex young woman — but on the subtleties of her relationship with her guardians. DeLaurier's shy, shuffling Matthew soon dotes on his charge ("That man is waking up," a neighbor observes, "after being asleep for over 60 years"), but Phelan's flinty Marilla resists the stirring of maternal affection.

Anne's briskly sketched teenage years suggest that DeLaurier leaves out many of the novel's events, but those included — amusing episodes like Anne accidentally serving alcohol to young Diana (Kim Carson) and cracking tormenter Gilbert (Daniel Joyce) over the head — tie together to tell her larger story well.

The lack of traditional "conflict" in Anne of Green Gables may make it too saccharine for some — particularly when plotlines conclude predictably — but this, like all of People's Light's many fine Family Discovery Series shows, never condescends, showing respect not only for the source material (I've got to get a copy!) but also for its all-ages audience.

Anne of Green Gables

Through Feb. 11,People's Light & Theatre,39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern,610-644-3500, www.peopleslight.org