The best thing to say about Bedlam’s irreverent, sister-centered  riff on “Pride and Prejudice” is that it demonstrates once again the enduring appeal of Jane Austen’s centuries-old characters, even while playwright Emily Breeze has them saying and doing things – cursing and murder, for example — that would surely cause their original author to drop dead.

“Are The Bennet Girls OK?” has found its audience: The production is popular enough for its run to have been extended three times. I’d like to think this is largely because the play retains several of the novel’s major storylines (if with decidedly altered endings), and reminds theatergoers of Austen’s wit (albeit without quite reproducing it.) There is also something at least potentially thought-provoking about the change in perspective, emphasizing the five Bennet sisters’ relationships with one another (and with their female friends) rather than with the men in their lives.

“Are The Bennet Girls OK?” begins with a garrulous Mrs. Bennet (Zuzanna Szadkowski)  chatting with an unseen neighbor in a way that establishes this changed perspective from the get-go. The novel famously begins: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” The first line in the play is Mrs. Bennet talking about her daughters: “well it’s a truth universally acknowledged that a girl with a sister must be in want of another sister so they can complain about the first sister together, and each of my girls has four sisters so- that’s how they’re doing to answer your…”

For Mrs. Bennet, as in the novel, “the business of her life was to get her daughters married” — with the expectation that at least one can produce a male heir so that they don’t lose their estate, which will otherwise be inherited by a distant male cousin, Mr. Collins.

And the relationships that develop are more or less along the lines of this character map for Pride and Prejudice

But “Pride and Prejudice” focuses on Elizabeth Bennet and her evolving relationship with Mr. Fitzwilliam Darby; by the end of the novel they have come to love one another, and each learned something profound: He acknowledges his pride, she her prejudice.

In “Are The Bennet Girls OK?” the two no longer dominate our attention, and if Elyse Steingold’s Lizzie becomes less relentlessly snarky, blunt and self-regarding by the end, it’s not clear that either of the two actually learns much, certainly not Mr. Darcy, since he’s a peripheral character, barely present until the very end. Edoardo Benzoni portrays Mr. Darcy and all the other men in the production — Jane’s suitor Mr. Bingley, Lydia’s seducer Mr. Wickham, the distant cousin/future usurper Mr. Collins, even the father Mr. Bennet (who has just one scene, when he’s close to death.) This gives the actor an opportunity to display his versatility (for each character, he changes jackets and physical and vocal mannerisms.) But it also relays the message that the men are inconsequential and interchangeable; they may have distinctly different personalities, but each in his own way comes off as insufferable. One can surmise that Breeze is degrading the role that the men play in the story as a clever way to rebel against (and thus comment on) the oppressive patriarchal society of the era, when women’s future well-being entirely depended on their ability to attract a suitable male in marriage. But, for better or worse, that’s Austen’s story, and upending it reduces the narrative coherence. Janeites of a purist bent might feel outrage, but those few theatergoers who don’t already know the plot (not having read the original novel, nor watched any of the movie versions, nor come across any of the many spin-offs and variations — the prequels, the sequels, the Marvel comics) might just feel lost.

We’re left with some good actresses portraying colorful characters dressed in Mariah Anzaldo Hale’s Regency-era costumes as they mostly engage in clever or catty 21st century exchanges, many of them full of four-letter words.  Standouts include Szadkowski’s Mrs. Bennet, flighty but more aware than her daughters give her credit for, and  Masha Breeze (the playwright’s sibling) as Mary, the awkward sister that all the others find annoying because of her obsession with botany and insistence on performing her original songs — hilariously bad ones composed by the two Breezes. To be clear: The songs are intentionally off-putting, the one aspect of “Are The Bennet Girls OK?” that is not OK on purpose.

Are the Bennet Girls OK?
Bedlam at West End Theater through November 30
Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes including intermission
Tickets: $91
Adapted by Emily Breeze from Jane Austen
Directed by Eric Tucker
Susannah Millonzi (Choreography), John McDermott (Scenic Design), Buffy Cardoza (Associate Scenic and Props), Mariah Anzaldo Hale (Costumes), Eric Southern (Lighting), Cheyenne Sykes (Lighting), Eric Tucker (Sound), Caitlin Morley (Associate Director), and Shania Pahuja (Assistant Director)
Cast: Edoardo Benzoni as Men, Masha Breeze as Mary, Caroline Campos  as Georgiana, Caroline Grogan as Lydia, Violeta Picayo as Kitty, Deychen Volino-Gyetsa  as Charlotte, Shayvawn Webster as Jane, Elyse Steingold as Lizzie, and Zuzanna Szadkowski  as Mrs. Bennet.