NORTH SHELBY – The Briarwood Christian School Theatre Department’s presentation of “Sense and Sensibility” will be a challenge for the students and a delight for attendees.

A Jane Austen classic published in 1811, “Sense and Sensibility” tells the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor (19) and Marianne (16) as they move with their widowed mother to a new home, where they experience love and heartbreak.

Briarwood Theatre Director Lee Eady said the adaptation by Kate Hamill that the group will perform is a modernization of the story, with a minimalistic set being moved about on wheels and other updates.

“Back then when [Austen] wrote, people held in their emotions and didn’t show things outwardly, but we express what they held back, so it’s a little over the top,” Eady said. “It’s the way we would express it today. The language is the same, but it’s a modern expression so that it reaches this generation.”

The language used by the characters will prove to be a challenge for the 30 Briarwood students, in ninth-12th grades, who are part of the production.

“That’s difficult for kids today,” Eady said. “We don’t talk that way, so it takes longer to memorize.”

Much of the story is told through “gossips,” which will be presented as ghosts—seen by the audience but not the characters.

Performances will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 8, and Saturday, Nov. 10, at the school’s Barbara B. Barker Auditorium.

The shows were pushed back from their originally scheduled dates in October because new lights and a sound system are being installed in the auditorium, Eady said.

Tickets will be sold the week of the show, beginning Tuesday, Nov. 6 at the school (in the mornings before classes begin and also at lunch), and at the door.

General admission tickets will be available for $5 for students and $10 for adults.