Pride & Prejudice: A Play on Jane Austen's Words, adapted by Joanna Norland

12:30 - 2 p.m.	Picnic - Bring lunch, a blanket, water bottle and chair, if you wish.
2 p.m.	Dramatic reading of Pride and Prejudice: A Play on Jane Austen's Words by Joanna Norland (1 h)
3 p.m.	Q&A and audience feedback -- We care what you think!

Cast

(in order of speaking)

Mrs Bennet/Mrs Reynolds	Lisa Climie-Somers
Mr. Bennet	Simon Roberts
Jane Bennet	Daisy Ashford
Lydia Bennet	Jemima Bowler
Elizabeth Bennet	Isla McLeod
Caroline Bingley/Mrs Gardiner	Jane Brooman
Colonel FItzwilliam/Charles Bingley	Joshua Polatin-Reuben
Fitzwilliam Darcy	Seth Somers
Charlotte Lucas	Dana Polatin
Wickham	Rich Keeble
Mr. Collins	Dominic King
Lady Catherine	Sam Davey
Mr. Gardiner	Dominique Gerrard

Special thanks to Dominique Gerrard and Vital Youth Theatre, Hastings, for your support.

About the Play

Elizabeth Bennet flouts convention with her decided opinions and mud-splattered petticoats. Mr. Darcy is universally condemned for his pride – notwithstanding his astonishing fortune and rank. When they meet at a ball, they clash, and each resolves never to dance with the other. Inconveniently, they fall in love just as Elizabeth’s reckless younger sister takes a step that threatens to divide them forever.

Two goals guided my adaptation of Jane Austen's most popular novel. The first was to offer a version that is as faithful to the sparkling original text as possible. Austen's wordsmithing is one of her greatest gifts to us, and she had tremendous theatrical instincts. I wanted to offer you her actual dialogue, albeit distilled.

Second, I wanted to focus on the aspect of the story which spoke most deeply to me: the character arcs of two people who dominate their respective spheres and then, discover their respective limitations, learn humility and combine to create a whole that is greater than the sum of their flawed parts. In every successful love story and buddy adventure, from P&P to Monsters, Inc., we sense that the protagonists need to join forces for their own flourishing, to rescue their world from itself, and ultimately, to elevate us all.  

Which, of course, is what theatre is all about: When we come together -- playwright, cast and audience -- we ignite possibilities that are unimaginable, so long as the words sit demurely on the page. Therefore, please accept my heartfelt thanks for helping to co-create this Austenian adventure. 

About the Quarry at Jollys Farm

The Quarry, is a unique outdoor performance venue created by Katie Fudakowski.

Nestled within a beautiful former sandstone quarry, it has been developed as a home for theatre, literature, music and the arts, offering audiences an intimate performance experience in an exceptional natural setting.

Contact us with questions about the space.

About the Playwright

Joanna Norland is the author of Lizzy, Darcy and Jane, a play about Jane Austen and Elizabeth Bennet published by Concord Theatricals, and founding member of Writersbridge, Robertsbridge's monthly writing group. She mentors writers independently and at the Starcroft Farm Cabins writing retreat near Battle. In addition to this adaptation, she has written a 90-minute stage version of Pride and Prejudice. Contact her if you would like a copy.

Pride and Prejudice FAQs

Why was Mrs. Bennet so desperate to marry off her daughters? 

Blame it on Regency property law. In 1813, when the novel was published, women could inherit estates . . . but not if the estate, like the Bennets', was bound up by an entailment by a previous owner. Entailed land had to pass to the nearest male relative (Mr. Collins, in Pride and Prejudice.) Depending on its terms, the entailment would be active for around three generations and could not be put in place indefinitely. It could be removed if two generations in the family agreed to it, so Mr Bennet’s plan was to sire a son to "cut off" the entailment. Unfortunately, he was "blessed" with five daughters. Mr Collins could not remove the entailment because he was not considered an actual heir (and probably would have been disinclined to do so, in any event.)

Why didn't Elizabeth answer Mr. Darcy's letter and bring the story to a speedy close?

Regency etiquette demanded that ladies and gentlemen refrain from corresponding unless they were related or engaged. Even Mr. D was bending the rules by hand-delivering a letter to Elizabeth, though as a man, the consequences would be less severe. Find out more in this article. 

Though men and women were restricted in their ability to correspond, letters were a crucial means of communication in Regency England, and an early draft of Pride and Prejudice, entitled "First Impressions" is thought to have been written as an epistolary novel. Letters were therefore crucial narrative devices for Austn. One of the challenges, in writing a faithful adaptation, was to weave them into the text.

Would Jane Austen have approved of our event?

I hope so. Jane adored the theatre and scholars suggest Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing may have inspired the crackling Lizzy/Darcy sparring in Pride and Prejudice. The Austens enjoyed homemade theatricals, and Jane wrote short, satirical scripts for her family’s amusement, including The Visit. That said, Fanny Price, the moralistic heroine of Mansfield Park, disapproved of the theatrical antics of the Bertrams and the Crawfords, when they set about performing Lovers’ Vows -- an actual 1790s play written by Elizabeth Inchbald, a fascinating woman in her own right. So, Fanny might censure us, but I believe that her author would smile upon our efforts.

Will this performance include a wet shirt, Mr. Collins' reference to excellent potatoes, or Mr. Darcy's avowal that, "You have bewitched me, body and soul"? 

No!!!!! None of these are in the novel! On the other hand, in response to audience feedback, I have added several of Mr. Bennet's most biting quips, absent from earlier drafts, along with a reference to Elizabeth Bennet's muddy petticoats. 

How long did Jane Austen spend writing Pride and Prejudice?

Austen began First Impressions, the initial version of Pride and Prejudice, at the age of 21, in 1796, and worked on it for approximately a year. Then, she reworked it in 1811-1812, for publication in 1813. Pride and Prejudice has a vernal soul. I love the novel for its vigour and optimism, but I also detect the author's youth in her harsh censure of her elders -- which pricks me more, with every passing year! In particular, while some adaptations present a more sympathetic, layered Mrs. Bennet, I always imagine young Jane Austen rolling her eyes and describing her matriarch's absurdities and hypocracy unsparingly, with more acuteness than empathy.