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‘Pride and Prejudice’ is a rare theatrical treat
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Reviewed by: FRAN HELLER Contributing Writer
In an age of one- and two-character plays, what pleasure it is to see an ensemble of 18 actors sharing the same stage!
This is one of the chief delights of “Pride and Prejudice,” Jane Austen’s impeccable comedy of manners; it’s at The Cleveland Play House through April 13.
In lesser hands, the wordy three-hour production, including two intermissions, could be a frightful bore. It isn’t, owing to Chicago director Peter Amster’s ingenious staging, a superlative ensemble performance, and a whiz of a design team that brings Austen’s most popular novel to such vivid life.
Robert Koharchik’s idyllic backdrop of an early 19th-century English country manor unfolds in storybook fashion. It’s as if the characters have stepped from the page to the stage under Amster’s brisk direction.
The play centers on its flawed hero and heroine Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich, aristocratic young man, and the clever Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth’s family is of a lesser class than Darcy’s, whose overarching pride blinds him initially to Elizabeth’s excellent qualities. In like manner, Elizabeth’s prejudice prevents her from seeing Darcy’s true nature. In the course of the story, both will change their views and overcome their “first impressions,” which was the original title of Austen’s novel.
So, what can a story rooted in female repression and a rigid early-19th-century English class system offer contemporary audiences? Surprisingly, a lot, for Austen’s views on marriage as a love based on mutual interest, respect and companionship were not only precocious ideas 200 years ago, but remain true today.
Amster’s staging, in which several things are happening simultaneously, is a marvel. The production is rife with comic tableaux that look like something William Hogarth would have drawn. For example, watch how Mrs. Bennet and her daughters hover over Mr. Bennet while he tries to read his newspaper or how the girls, in various states of suppressed glee, share a sofa with the insufferably pompous Mr. Collins.
Attention to detail is extraordinary in the intricate, well-executed dancing, Gail Brassard’s sumptuous period costumes, and a mobile stage that quickly converts a sitting room to a ballroom or a garden.
Humorous touches endow the production with inescapable charm. Note how Elizabeth gazes longingly upon an unseen life portrait of Darcy, while the real Darcy stands behind her in a mock identical pose.
Chaon Cross is a darling as the strong-willed, quick-witted Elizabeth Bennet, intent on marrying for love, not security. Handsome Jason Bradley cuts a dashing figure as the puffed-up Darcy. Watching him pace about in an awkward attempt to propose marriage is extremely funny.
Bill McGough captures the sardonic Mr. Bennet, indifferent to all his daughters except for Elizabeth, his favorite. Mr. Bennet has some of the wittiest lines in the play, which McGough delivers with wry understatement.
While a mostly hysterical Judith Day overdoes the caricature of Mrs. Bennet, she remains true to type as the brainless busybody whose sole aim in life is to find suitable (read: rich) husbands for her five daughters.
Beautiful Michele Graff radiates as the good-natured Jane Bennet, who falls in love with wealthy bachelor Charles Bingley (Tom Degnan). But their budding romance is nipped by Bingley’s snooty sister Caroline (icy Amanda Duffy).
Annabel Armour bristles as the uppity Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who seeks to destroy any possibility of union between her nephew Darcy and Elizabeth.
Nigel Patterson cuts a suitably ridiculous figure as the sycophantic clergyman Mr. Collins, who marries the plain and penniless Charlotte Lucas (Melynee Saunders Warren) on the rebound.
The younger Bennet sisters include Cassandra Bissell as the dour middle sister Mary and Roni Geva and Annie Paul as the frivolously silly youngest sisters, Lydia and Kitty. The villain of the story is Mr. Wickham, (oily Daniel Graham), a fortune hunter and a liar.
Ann G. Wrightson’s lighting illuminates the verdant English countryside to great effect. Composer Andrew R. Hopson’s music amuses throughout.
It’s long but good and worth the effort.
In an age of one- and two-character plays, what pleasure it is to see an ensemble of 18 actors sharing the same stage!
This is one of the chief delights of “Pride and Prejudice,” Jane Austen’s impeccable comedy of manners; it’s at The Cleveland Play House through April 13.
In lesser hands, the wordy three-hour production, including two intermissions, could be a frightful bore. It isn’t, owing to Chicago director Peter Amster’s ingenious staging, a superlative ensemble performance, and a whiz of a design team that brings Austen’s most popular novel to such vivid life.
Robert Koharchik’s idyllic backdrop of an early 19th-century English country manor unfolds in storybook fashion. It’s as if the characters have stepped from the page to the stage under Amster’s brisk direction.
The play centers on its flawed hero and heroine Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich, aristocratic young man, and the clever Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth’s family is of a lesser class than Darcy’s, whose overarching pride blinds him initially to Elizabeth’s excellent qualities. In like manner, Elizabeth’s prejudice prevents her from seeing Darcy’s true nature. In the course of the story, both will change their views and overcome their “first impressions,” which was the original title of Austen’s novel.
So, what can a story rooted in female repression and a rigid early-19th-century English class system offer contemporary audiences? Surprisingly, a lot, for Austen’s views on marriage as a love based on mutual interest, respect and companionship were not only precocious ideas 200 years ago, but remain true today.
Amster’s staging, in which several things are happening simultaneously, is a marvel. The production is rife with comic tableaux that look like something William Hogarth would have drawn. For example, watch how Mrs. Bennet and her daughters hover over Mr. Bennet while he tries to read his newspaper or how the girls, in various states of suppressed glee, share a sofa with the insufferably pompous Mr. Collins.
Attention to detail is extraordinary in the intricate, well-executed dancing, Gail Brassard’s sumptuous period costumes, and a mobile stage that quickly converts a sitting room to a ballroom or a garden.
Humorous touches endow the production with inescapable charm. Note how Elizabeth gazes longingly upon an unseen life portrait of Darcy, while the real Darcy stands behind her in a mock identical pose.
Chaon Cross is a darling as the strong-willed, quick-witted Elizabeth Bennet, intent on marrying for love, not security. Handsome Jason Bradley cuts a dashing figure as the puffed-up Darcy. Watching him pace about in an awkward attempt to propose marriage is extremely funny.
Bill McGough captures the sardonic Mr. Bennet, indifferent to all his daughters except for Elizabeth, his favorite. Mr. Bennet has some of the wittiest lines in the play, which McGough delivers with wry understatement.
While a mostly hysterical Judith Day overdoes the caricature of Mrs. Bennet, she remains true to type as the brainless busybody whose sole aim in life is to find suitable (read: rich) husbands for her five daughters.
Beautiful Michele Graff radiates as the good-natured Jane Bennet, who falls in love with wealthy bachelor Charles Bingley (Tom Degnan). But their budding romance is nipped by Bingley’s snooty sister Caroline (icy Amanda Duffy).
Annabel Armour bristles as the uppity Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who seeks to destroy any possibility of union between her nephew Darcy and Elizabeth.
Nigel Patterson cuts a suitably ridiculous figure as the sycophantic clergyman Mr. Collins, who marries the plain and penniless Charlotte Lucas (Melynee Saunders Warren) on the rebound.
The younger Bennet sisters include Cassandra Bissell as the dour middle sister Mary and Roni Geva and Annie Paul as the frivolously silly youngest sisters, Lydia and Kitty. The villain of the story is Mr. Wickham, (oily Daniel Graham), a fortune hunter and a liar.
Ann G. Wrightson’s lighting illuminates the verdant English countryside to great effect. Composer Andrew R. Hopson’s music amuses throughout.
It’s long but good and worth the effort.
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