Photo of Michael Brusasco and Kate Cook by Danisha Crosby
Putting a novel on stage is no easy task, and it becomes all the more daunting when it is one of the most beloved stories in all of English literature. Who among us doesn’t have their own image of the Bennet girls, a particular take on Mr. Darcy, or a picture in their mind of the Pemberley estate? Reading the novel is a deeply personal experience – just you, the text, and your favorite armchair for comfort.
A theatrical adaptation is something different altogether. Bringing these famous characters to life is a shared experience between actors and audience. We imagine together. And we experience the story through the immediacy of live performance. Whatever your previous exposure to Pride and Prejudice may be, you’re bound to re-discover it today and find something new.
A great adaptation honors the source material yet takes it in a new direction. This script succeeds on both counts. All of the familiar scenes and characters are here, made vivid by this wonderful company of actors. But the production is much more than “Masterpiece Theatre – Live.” It has a style and theatricality of its own creation. Elizabeth lives at the center of our story, and we move rapidly from one chapter of her life to the next. It’s a journey that is fluid, stylish, character-driven, and uniquely theatrical.
For me, Austen’s story is a romance wrapped inside a comedy of manners. Two couples form the center of the romance. Jane and Bingley enjoy a simple kind of love – sincere, trusting, straight forward. Elizabeth and Darcy’s love is more complex – complicated by their mutual pride and uncommon prejudices – yet somehow deeper and more meaningful for its spirited independence. Swirling around these couples is a cornucopia of Regency characters who Austen satirizes with loving wit. They behave badly but properly, epitomizing society’s absurd codes of behavior. In the end, Pride and Prejudice confirms our deepest wish that true love exists beyond the confines of social convention.
- Blake Robison, Producing Artistic Director
Pride and Prejudice, directed by Blake Robison, is onstage at Round House Bethesda thru December 31, 2011.
