It can be difficult to rework a 200-year-old novel for university students. But director and co-adaptor Ann M. Shanahan and co-adaptor and costume designer Aly Amidei’s adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” brought a new lens to the play, enrapturing the audience in this romantic classic.
In an interview with The Daily Cardinal, Shanahan said she appreciates all of the novel’s past adaptations, but “none of them felt like they spoke to what resonates with me about the novel.”
For Amidei, this meant a deeper focus “on the unapologetic nature of the women characters,” particularly showcasing how “they stand with both feet on the ground, and they stand in their truth, and they voice their truth in a way that is startling for me, even 200 years later,” she said.
All of the actresses, supporting and leading, take on the role of narrator at some point. Passing around the role of narration kept the audience on its toes, replicating the role gossip plays in past and present society.
The strength of the play’s female characters was on full display. Although our world looks very different from Austen’s, certain themes still remain relevant today.
“Even though it's dealing in a lot of weddings and couplings, it's the voice, the strong voices that make it feel like you can relate to it,” Shanahan said.
This was especially communicated by AJ Stoffel’s portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet. Between her convincing recitation of Jane Austen’s hefty dialogue paired with her use of physical comedy and facial expressions, she perfectly portrayed a headstrong Elizabeth Bennet.
But no actresses portrayed comedy quite like Amelia Echmeier’s Caroline Bingley and Nora Wondra’s Mrs. Bennet. These ladies delivered lines that had me doubled over in laughter throughout the play. Both co-adaptors felt this play held a strong relevance today. “Pride and Prejudice” continues to still garner popularity in every generation. The cast themselves proved this throughout the production.
“There's one person we cast who was named Eliza for Eliza Bennett,” Shanahan said. “[We] had another person who auditioned whose parent's first date had been going to see a movie version of the play.”
The costuming of this production posed the unique challenge of capturing the essence of the original novel but in a way that has not been overdone.
Amidei, who in addition to her role as co-adaptor also designed the costumes, said the design choices she made not only had to support the story but to work at “shaping the story.”
Amidei said sourcing for a period piece was challenging, as they had to borrow, make and buy different items to piece together the costumes for this show. And “because of shows like Bridgeton, and the popularity of Austen in general, you can even straight up order something from Amazon,” she said.
Amidei also explained the process of practicing in period costumes by providing practice garments for the actors — the men wore jackets during rehearsals to work on posture, and the women practiced walking in petticoats.
Another unique aspect to their adaptation is the use of dance in propelling the storyline forward. The play features multiple balls and dance is used to showcase the emotion of the characters and draw the viewers further into the world of Austen.
“That was your Facebook, your social, your TikTok, your Tinder of the Austen era, right?” Amidei said.
Choreographer Kristen Rollins had never choreographed for an Austen work before but took the challenge of choreographing the balls in stride.
“The dances are just great. They're the best parts of this show,” Shanahan joked. Each week when the actors had dance rehearsals Shanahan was surprised by how enthralled the company became, especially the young men.
These balls still held significance, “almost like a square dance, [they] had this timeless kind of identification.” Shanahan shared.
The real star of the show was the way in which everything worked together as a unit. Between the actors, choreography and technical execution the company produced a beautiful twist on a timeless tale.
“The work of the students on stage, all of them together as an organism, it's astounding,” Amidei said.
“Pride and Prejudice” will run from Nov. 8 to Nov. 17 at the Ronald E. Mitchell Theatre in Vilas Hall.
