This production celebrates the journey of reading, of
opening a book and entering a world of the imagination. Our imaginations as
readers can incorporate personal connections to a text. My personal experience
of the early-nineteenth century is limited to books I have read, films I have
seen, and historic homes I have toured. When I read Jane Austen, I don’t
usually imagine the characters as having British accents. But certain moments
from representations of Pride and
Prejudice in popular culture are inescapable. I do picture Dame Judi Dench
as Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. (I also have trouble separating the marriage
market of Jane Austen’s world from contemporary reality TV dating shows such as
The Bachelor.)
In approaching Pride
and Prejudice as a script, I pictured a young woman reading the novel in a
coffee shop and being drawn into the story, imagining herself as Elizabeth
Bennet. Though the novel offers narration in the third person, Austen’s use of
free indirect discourse connects the reader primarily with Elizabeth. Because Elizabeth
is a keen observer with a wry wit, as a reader it is a pleasure to experience
the world of the novel from her perspective.
Joseph Hanreddy and J.R. Sullivan offer a stage adaptation
that includes some word-for-word passages from the novel, but pares down the
number of characters and emphasizes the theatrical potential of this story. The
play is characterized by rapid changes of location, and includes moments when
characters inhabit multiple locations at once. Many of the supporting
characters are painted as comic types in the script; our actors have endeavored
to combine contemporary insight with period style to play their roles with some
nuance. In many ways the production mimics the mental processes of reading. By
attempting to access the past through the present, we acknowledge that what
Austen teaches us about love, marriage, and families transcends her time.
