Ethan Frome is a 1911 novel by Edith Wharton. Because of its literary quality and its modest length, usually around 125 pages, it is a very popular assignment for high school and early college literary courses. However, its bleak story about a loveless marriage and a doomed love affair have often made this fine literary work an object of disdain among young readers and its vivid characters and sharply detailed portrayal of New England poverty have made this classic one of those works you “learn to appreciate when you are older.” Perhaps now is that time for appreciation as Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre member Laura Eason transfers Ethan Frome to the stage.

Eason is no stranger to stage adaptation of classics as her superbly skillful adaptations of Around the World in 80 Days and The Old Curiosity Shop have proven. Here, her adapter’s pen is sharper than ever. She humanizes the endless misery of Wharton’s book and makes the unfortunate choices of these characters realistic. Better yet, she also directs. Her ensemble never misses a beat in recreating a major literary classic in a live, three-dimensional format. Experiencing this grim story this way does much to trim the constant air of depression from the purely literary experience. Her infusion of humanity into these doomed and impoverished characters gives this story a strong credibility and considerable human interest.

The three leads of Philip R. Smith (Ethan), Lisa Tejero (the suffering and shrewish wife of Ethan) and Louise Lamson (the family border who becomes Ethan’s love interest) are thoroughly credible through the twists and turns of passion and tension. The unnamed narrator of the book becomes Henry Morton on the Lookingglass stage and the character here also has an elevated humanity. It’s more than just giving him a name though as Andrew White does much to humanize this voice from the pages of the novel. Here, he seems interested in the events, but never gets too emotionally tied to the events to fail in his charge to narrate them with skill, a fine balancing act for actor and director.

For those who have never warmed to this very atypical writing of Edith Wharton, this is your chance “to appreciate it when you are older.” You may find on the stage of the Lookingglass Theatre many fine points you missed struggling through the grim pages of the printed word as those words come alive.

The Lookingglass Theatre is located at the Old Pumping Station at 821 North Michigan on Chicago’s Miracle Mile. You can contact them at: 312-337-0665, or on the web at www.lookingglasstheatre.org. This production of Ethan Frome runs until April 17.

Coda:

• Ethan Frome is very atypical of Edith Wharton’s writings as she was a wealthy individual who was considered a lady of leisure and wrote mostly about the upper class. Ethan Frome is based on a sledding accident that happened in Lenox, Massachusetts in 1904. One of the survivors of the accident, Kate Spenser, was a friend of Edith Wharton.
• Edith Wharton wrote a good deal of non-fiction, including The Decoration of Houses with architect Odgen Codman. Her non-fiction works on the French war effort in World War I, along with her work assisting French military hospitals, won her the title of Chevalier (Knight) of France and the Legion of Merit. The Marne and Fighting France are her two most famous writings on World War I.
• In 1920, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with her novel, The Age of Innocence.
• In 1993, Ethan Frome was filmed by director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) with a script by playwright Richard Nelson.