‘Enchanted April,’ the Vacation Rental that Changed Everything

Matthew Barber’s stage adaptation of Elizabeth von Arnim’s 1922 novel keeps the bones of the story — four mismatched women fleeing dreary London — but adds a modern comedic rhythm. Easthampton Theater Company’s production of Enchanted April brought us to a sunny, joyful place on the Continent.

It’s 1922, and we meet an earnest young woman in a women’s club in London. She sounds and looks a lot like Edith, the unlucky daughter of Hugh Crawley on Downton Abbey. She is Mrs. Lotty Wilton (Jennie Coletta), the wife of a stiff lawyer, Mellersh Wilton (Griffin Ross). He’s as stuck up as they come in his black tuxedo, always on the hunt for a new legal client.

Griffin Ross joined me in my tiny role in Easthampton Theater Company’s 2023 production of The Man Who Came to Dinner as the earnest young family man Richard Stanley, another straight man. This time, Griffin turns up the stiff, ordering his wife around and declaring “case closed!” when she lays out her rental plans. But Lotty has already taken the plunge — she’s spent her whole 60‑pound nest egg on a villa in Italy. Welp, she’s going. The question becomes: who’s coming with her?

Soon, we meet Lotty’s friend Rose Arnott (Schuyler Evans). You can tell Rose isn’t happy in her life; she has an uptight manner, and her gal pal Lotty calls her out, which goes over about as well as you’d expect. Her husband is a cold and self‑absorbed poet with a book tour on his mind, and Rose is clearly ready for something — anything — different.

Lotty, meanwhile, is leading the charge to choose joy, make an escape, and do something unrestrained. While she was in the club, she found a very tempting advertisement in the newspaper. Thunder rumbles from above; it’s another rainy, dreary London afternoon, and a sign of the interminable grey winter. The ad describes a castle in northern Italy, where the sun shines and best of all, so does the wisteria. “Those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine, a small castle for rent, including servants. It’s called San Salvatore.” SOLD.

Like anyone who’s ever chased down a late‑season Airbnb at the Cape, Lotty has to act fast to secure the funds. It will be a glorious month, she decides — an Enchanted April. But it’s 1922, and drat, they both have husbands. Rose’s hubby, Frederick Arnott (Jason Rose‑Langston), is a regal, self‑impressed poet with society connections and a book tour that inconveniently overlaps with the planned escape. After some fussing, he resigns himself to Rose’s plans.

More companions are needed, though, and Lotty is out of friends. So she places an ad in the same newspaper to find two more women with money and time to spend in their castle. The results are about as good as Craigslist. This will be a helluva week.

First, we meet a fussy dowager named Mrs. Graves, played with vigor and humor by Jane Barish, who thinks inheritance is more noble than acquisition and has personal demands up the wazoo — she’s a giant red flag.

The second candidate is a bored socialite named Lady Caroline Bramble (Katerina Midtskogen), waving her cigarette around and offering to join them with a nonchalant view of just about everything. She’s dealing with the pain and loss of her man from the recently ended war and is also eager for a break from bleak London to sunny Italy.

Act 2 shifts to the Italian castle San Salvatore, where the fun and flowers don’t disappoint. The two friends take the train to Italy and are shocked to find their other guests, Mrs. Graves and Lady Caroline, already lounging on the terrace. They’ve already picked out the best bedrooms for themselves, breaking the ancient Airbnb rule that everyone knows. Lotty and Rose roll with it, happy to be in their castle despite the hiccups.

The castle comes with an attractive landlord, Antony Wilding (Randy Garfield), who seems to enjoy spending time with his renters, much to their delight. One of the funniest scenes is when Mrs. Graves meets Costanza (Louise Krieger), who tries to accommodate her as she barrels through in English while Costanza replies in Italian. Krieger has a lot of fun exaggerating behind Mrs. Graves’s back as she tries to tend to her demands as best she can.

The production uses a simple stage, but the Italian set brings the light and flower contrast to dark, dreary London. The show’s pace is brisk, and the accents never waver throughout.

As the month unfolds, the Italian sunshine works its magic. Relationships shift, stiffness melts, and even the most guarded characters find themselves opening up in ways they didn’t expect. The play doesn’t need heavy plot mechanics — the transformations are the point, and ETC lets them land naturally. By the end, everyone seems a little lighter, a little happier to be in sunny Italy, where even the clouds look better up in the sky.

Enchanted April, by Matthew Barber. Easthampton Theater Company at Williston Theater through March 22, 2026, tickets Easthamptontheater.com. Directed by Gilana Chelimsky, produced by Michael O. Budnick and Deb Jacobson.