Delightfully sassy, multicultural staging
Long Wharf redefines ‘Pride and Prejudice’
Long Wharf’s Theatre’s production of “Pride and Prejudice” is a rambunctious comedy that is cagily respectful of its rather staid source material, Jane Austen’s beloved novel about a strong woman who knows what she wants, a brash hunky man who is not as much of a jerk as he seems, and a nattering family whose antiquated beliefs are getting in the way of true love.
Austen’s book is a satire of social customs, and playwright Kate Hamill catches that, laying on loads of other comedy besides. She lets the stuffy characters speak as if they lived nowadays, with snippy responses and blistering put downs. Decorum is lacking, and the results are delightful.
Hamill’s rendition is very much in keeping with how other writers have refreshed “Pride and Prejudice.” Bookshelves in the Long Wharf lobby (an ongoing collaboration with New Haven Public Library that urges theatergoers to read more about the show they’re seeing) are stocked with nonfiction such as “The Real Jane Austen” and contemporary Austen-inspired novels like “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” “Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe” and “A Darcy Christmas,” “Mr. Darcy’s Secret” and even “Crazy Rich Asians.”
Hamill’s script follows “Pride and Prejudice” plot pretty closely and builds Lizzy and Darcy’s smoldering romance with the
same dramatic pacing Austen perfected. But besides bringing a very different tone to the story, it messes with some of its underlying themes. She leaves out some of the novel’s most compelling arguments for and against the institution of marriage. English grad students should have a field day with this.
Most importantly, neither Hamill’s script, nor Aneisa J. Hicks’ performance, come anywhere close to Austen’s description of Lizzy as having a “lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.” Hicks’ Lizzy doesn’t seem to find anything funny in the absurd advances of her several suitors. She doesn’t establish her independence as much as she does her distaste.
The ridiculousness comes from elsewhere: from the casting of a burly man, Luis Moreno, as Lizzy’s sister Mary or a top-hatted woman in an ill-fitting suit as the mercurial Mr. Bennet.
Long Wharf gets no special credit for staging “Pride and Prejudice.” It’s one of the most popular plays in the country, the third of Hamill’s antic, fun-to-stage rewrites of hoary classics. (The previous ones were Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” and William Makepeace Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair.’ Since “Pride and Prejudice,” she’s done “Little Women.”)
Where the Long Wharf does come in for particular praise is in the casting and design. They make the play funnier, sassier, sillier and more modern. In Gerardo Díaz Sánchez’s wonderfully insane set design, everything on the stage — the floor, the walls, the furniture, the railings of the banisters — have the exact same loud pink flowery pattern. It’s the play’s first big joke about cultural conformity.
The actors enter, and before they speak they do an informal, folksy version of a formal dance, another clever takedown of upperclass tradition. The cast is an array of African American, Asian and Latinx performers wearing exaggerated, drag-revue versions of quaint 19th century fashions. (The costumes, which settle down a bit as the show progresses, are designed by Izumi Inaba.)
Before anyone’s even spoken, this production has made some grand statements: Social restrictions are boring. Life, and love, should be enjoyable. Anyone should be able to play. Get over yourself and have some fun.
Google other productions of “Pride and Prejudice” and you’ll mainly see white actors in period costumes in 19th century settings. With director
Jess McLeod (the resident director of the long-running Chicago production of “Hamilton”) at the helm, Long Wharf takes the spirit of Hamill’s refreshing rewrite of Austen’s romance and ramps it up visually.
The casting has a big impact, just as it did when the Long Wharf cast an African American woman as the narrator in “An Iliad” or nonwhite actors in lead roles in “A Doll’s House, Part 2” and “Tiny Beautiful Things” last season.
The multicultural ensemble and the bright, crazy trappings keep the energy up during the times when plot recaps and romantic interludes slow it down.
Hamill’s plays aren’t parodies. They’re modern retellings of beloved literary classics that embrace the liveliness of modern theater, a contemporary snide cynicism and a snarky sense of humor. These plays are made for regional theaters, and indeed West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park will be staging their own production of “Pride and Prejudice” in February, not even two months after the Long Wharf’s run has ended.
Scholars, even those who dig the whimsicality, might sigh at what bits have been left out. Some audience members could sigh at how insincere some of the “true” romances can seem here, or might not see much chemistry between the Lizzy and Darcy (Biko Eisen-Martin, casually commanding), let alone Mr. and Mrs. Bennet or some of the other affectionate couples.
Most of the actors are called upon to play multiple roles. Eight performers create an entire society of conflicted, confused, hopeful and highly comic characters. The true transformational talents are Dawn Elizabeth Clements, who switches from giddy Lydia to a reserved Lady Catherine; and Brian Lee Huynh, who is the militaristic louse Wickham; the cultured Miss Bingley; and the socially awkward suitor Mr. Collins.
Yet whatever one’s personal tastes and passions might be, this “Pride and Prejudice” works grandly. It makes a point. It makes you laugh.
Jane Austen herself had a great sense of humor, satirizing sensational novels of her own era with “Northanger Abbey.” In all her novels she used cliches and stereotypes to set up her characters, only to deepen those people, make them more mysterious and make us question assumptions about austere society.
In a different, wilder manner, that’s what Hamill, McLeod and Long Wharf are doing with this play. By adding a brazen fluid sensuality to some of the roles, and using a nonwhite cast, it reminds us that the words “pride” and “prejudice” resonate differently now than they did in Austen’s day.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
runs through Dec. 22 at the Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Dr., New Haven. Performances are Tuesday at 7 p.m.; Wednesday at 2 and 7 p.m.; Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $32 to $72. On Dec. 15 following the 2 p.m. performance, the theater is hosting a symposium with arts activists Luciana McClure and Attallah Sheppard. Tickets start at $32. longwharf.org