INTERVIEW: Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ gets new life off-Broadway
Among works of literature, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has some of the best shelf life of any novel in history. Whether it’s the original text, the BBC adaptation or the satirical horror novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the story of Elizabeth Bennet and her family’s struggle to find her a suitable husband continues to inspire and entertain.
A new theatrical production, which was first presented at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and is now playing off-Broadway thanks to Primary Stages, has the many plot points and characters of the original novel represented on stage at the Cherry Lane Theatre in the West Village. What this adaptation does differently is employ a sense of theatrical expediency by casting the actors in multiple roles on stage. This makes Kate Hamill’s production both fresh and even more comedic.
Exhibit A is Mark Bedard, who plays Wickham, Miss Bingley and Mr. Collins.
The actor has been with the production since its Hudson Valley days, and he is joined on stage by Hamill, Kimberly Chatterjee, Jason O’Connell, Amelia Pedlow, Chris Thorn, John Tufts and Nancy Williamson. Amanda Dehnert directs the play, which continues its extended run through Jan. 6.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox spoke with Bedard about his many roles. Here’s what he had to say:
On how he became attached to the production …
“Well, I was already a big fan of Kate Hamill. I had seen Sense and Sensibility, and then Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, where I’ve worked the last three summers, they did one of the first readings of her Vanity Fair up there. So I got to be in that reading with her after I’d seen Sense and Sensibility, and I also loved that script. And so when Pride and Prejudice was rolling around, I just knew I wanted to be a part of it before I even ready it.
On the challenges of playing multiple roles …
“I knew it was probably going to be a small cast production. … When I was first offered to be in the show, they said, ‘We want you to be in this season at Hudson Valley. … And you’ll be playing Wickham and Miss Bingley.’ And Collins wasn’t even on there at first, so I think things were kind of fluctuating. And to be honest, I wasn’t really intimidated until I was also playing Collins.”
On how he approaches each character …
“Kate has done such a beautiful job of playing with the tone of the piece, of Jane Austen’s work, and I knew I was going be playing all three antagonists. So how to play all three of those genuinely but also genuinely lead into the comedy of those three characters and the truth of those three characters at the same time, that was the particular challenge and making sure they’re all three distinct and not just me in a dress.”
On how physically demanding the show can be …
“It is very draining, but thankfully it’s also very joyful. And it’s a really great group. We all like each other very much, and we all appreciate each other’s work and everything. As you may have noticed, we all have to be on stage practically the whole time, so we’re watching each other’s scenes. So that’s all very exhausting because we’re kind of on the whole time, but at the same time, it’s rewarding because we enjoy the work. And we enjoy each other, and so I usually just go home and take an epsom salt bath after the show to get ready for the next day.”
On the experience of performing in the Hudson Valley this past summer …
“I love performing in the Hudson Valley. … That space is so unique, and the view is so beautiful. And it demands a certain level of engagement not only from the actors who have to play that space, which is probably the most difficult vocally that I’ve ever had to play because it’s just an open-sided three-quarter thrust, but also the audience. People usually are picnicking beforehand. They’re enjoying themselves even before they arrive to the theater, and there’s no fourth wall in that space. And so it’s hard to establish a fourth wall even if you want to. It’s hard not to engage with the audience in that space, so we love performing out there. Although I will say, if we had to do eight times a week out there, we’d probably be dead.”
On the changes between the Hudson Valley and off-Broadway …
“There was some fine-tuning, some cuts. The show is a lot shorter in the Cherry Lane. I think it’s about 20 minutes shorter, and that’s not just cuts. … The Cherry Lane is such a beautiful space because you can go much quicker, and acoustically it’s the exact opposite of the tent that we performed in in the summer.
“One of the biggest challenges of bringing it from the tent to the Cherry Lane was bringing it down vocally. I mean, in the tent, you have to yell just to be heard and yell even louder if you want your character to ‘yell.’ So the Cherry Lane is a great space, so we’re able to go quicker. The show is tighter, so we spent some time doing that. And performing in a proscenium as opposed to a thrust, we had to re-stage it a lot, so those were kind of the two main things that we had to do in transitioning it, kind of getting rid of our muscle memory of the tent as well.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Pride and Prejudice, adapted by Kate Hamill, is currently playing off-Broadway’s Cherry Lane Theatre in a co-production from Primary Stages and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. Click here for more information and tickets.
