 The youngest daughter of Mr and Mrs. Bennet is finally in the spotlight in Lydia Bennet Works in Finance and she has swapped bonnets for blazers, marriage markets for high-risk markets, and all with zero chill in this modern take.
Trelawny Kean delivers a brilliant, high-octane performance that never once lets the energy flag. From the moment she strides onstage with her suitcase, she’s part Gen-Z chaos gremlin, part Taylor Swift Anti-Hero and unflinchingly aware of her dire situation. Kean’s Lydia is a marvel of arrested development, careening between bravado and vulnerability, landing gut-punch moments of emotional honesty just when you think she’s about to spin completely out of control. The modern setting works very effectively. Lydia freshly separated from Wickham is armed with a smartphone, and a corporate job through family connections. The script is quick, sharp and there’s a Frasier-esque precision to the comedy, skewering high-society absurdities while dropping deeply relatable one-liners about dating, office politics, and the mess of trying to find yourself. What makes this more than a sharp comic sketch is its clear-eyed look at a woman clawing her way toward independence. Between the wisecracks, put-downs, and moments of self-sabotage, Lydia begins to rewrite her own story and is no longer the scandalous footnote in someone else’s romance, but the author of her own messy, unapologetic life. It’s not a neat transformation, but in embracing her flaws and refusing to shrink, she finds a freedom Austen’s Lydia was never allowed. Lee Hutchison 4/5 Lydia Bennet Works in FinanceVenue: Ivy Studio at Greenside @ George Street Dates: August 15-23rd (Excluding 17th) Time: 1140 Tickets: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/lydia-bennet-works-in-finance |
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