The two scenes are played at the same time, in parallel, and the actors’ timing of the lines is tricky, but very well done. McGrath) you realize just how confining the relationships between them are, and how alone the wives feel, how disconnected they have become. When Lottie and Rose announce their leaving to their husbands, Mellersh (Jason Damasco) and Frederick (Thomas I. Graves also share the castle with Lady Caroline Bramble, (Jenn Robinson) a “Modern” socialite completely bored with her life of parties and dancing, and we learn later, why this is. Her grumpiness melts when the castle owner, Antony Wilding (Rich Koster) brings her her absolute favorite – English walnuts, and she is a delight to watch as she lets herself warm up to the others. Graves (Pamela Northrup) is a dominating old widow who has some of the funniest lines in the show. Lottie is a cheery chatterbox in these early conversations, excitable at the enticing idea of taking a holiday away from their husbands, at an Italian castle available for rent. Rose is reticent, all about holding on to British propriety, and Brown plays her with such initial reservation that you secretly cheer when she agrees to plot for a month long escape. The two then advertise for lady “traveling companions,” who reveal their own reasons for being “stuck” and in dire need of a change of scenery. She does have something else in common with Rose (Caity Brown) – unhappy marriages. After a passionate monologue about how “loss is by nature an unbalancing thing….waiting and wondering…” and allegory storytelling by Lottie (Laurie Simonds), she encounters a woman whose only connection is they go to same church.

Aptly directed by Pauline Griller-Mitchell and produced by Malca Giblin, Enchanted April explores how transformative a month in paradise can really be, and don’t we all need some of that these days?

Are you ready to ditch this cold, rainy weather we’ve had and enjoy an Enchanted April? Vicariously escape to Italy to appreciate wisteria and sunshine in the Greenbelt Art Center’s charming rendition of this play by Mathew Barber.

An enchanted april