The Austen We Need Now: Kate Hamill's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that any well-known line, frequently repeated, becomes a parody of itself.

That was the danger that playwright-actor Kate Hamill faced when adapting Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  With so many large and small screen adaptations already available, and an ardent fan base ready to recite along, yet another new take on old material could easily become redundant.

Being a Short History of Kate Hamill's Work, a Digression

Fans of Hamill's work, which includes her wildly successful Sense and Sensibility and Vanity Fair, both directed by Bedlam's kinetic enthusiast, Eric Tucker, know that any new Hamill play will include moments of mayhem, a signature small cast transforming into a variety of characters, modern song and dance, and elements of cirque - so that at least in terms of staging, anything Hamill-approved will never be staid.

Sense and Sensibility, which enjoyed four extensions in its latest NYC run, used wheeled chairs, moving lattices, forced perspective, and every trick in the proverbial book to show both the wildness and strict social convention of Regency England: elements which can be lost in ye olde cravatted productions.  As Hamill revealed In an interview with the New Yorker, her guiding light for Sense and Sensibility was: "Do you break the rules or follow them?"

Yet in that play, as in the carnival inspired Vanity Fair (also directed by Eric Tucker), while the poetry of Hamill's underlying philosophy was always present, the story was often sacrificed for the spectacle.  Important plot beats were buried beneath a physical and audible whirligig of unnecessary commotion, and delicately written scenes were left without any direction at all.

With each adaptation, however, Hamill's ownership over the material has grown.  While I found her take on Sense and Sensibility fairly straightforward, I was excited by the more authorial take and philosophic questions she raised in the morally ambiguous Vanity Fair.  Which Hamill would show up this time, I wondered.  Along with every Janeite's underlying question: Will you illuminate Austen or destroy her?

Wherein We Judge Ms Hamill's Adaptation,  with the Haughtiness of Lady DeBourgh

Being as impecunious as one of the Bennet sisters, I hadn't taken the opportunity to see Hamill's latest Austen outing until recently, when through a series of Dickensian coincidences, I was invited as a friend's plus one.  Never one to turn down a free ticket, I went with arms crossed, ready to see either a too-precious or a too-irreverent production.

The play began, as is typical for Hamill, with the whole cast singing a modern song, quickly establishing who the couples were, as well as Lizzy's reluctance to play the game of love, and Darcy's discomfort with group activities.  So far, so expected.

But just when I would have expected someone to intone Austen's universally praised first line, instead we were treated to some invented dialogue from Mrs Bennet (Nance Williamson) explaining how marriage wasn't so much about love as it was about the game of love.  The daughters took their places in what we suddenly realized was both a parlour floor and a boxing ring, with each sister reacting differently to the prospect of competing.  So that moments later, around the time John Tufts transforms from the emo-inspired Mary Bennet to the puppy dog Mr Bingley, I was sold.

     A Criticism of the Creators, Largely Favourable

What Kate Hamill and new collaborator, director Amanda Dehnert achieve is nothing less than a bold, open-heart exploration of Jane Austen's text, more true to the spirit of the original than any adaptation I've witnessed thus far, and yet wholly original to Hamill's madcap approach to the classics.  What so many of the author's devotees forget is that Austen was writing satire, biting social commentary - and her work is anything but safe.

Hamill takes the bull by the dramaturgical horns, including an extended metaphor about bells (yes, you read that right; no, not necessarily wedding) that rings subtly through the text until it becomes fully audible in Mr Darcy's first proposal.  Where I expected to recite along with famous dialogue - such as at the Netherfield Ball - I was instead treated to Hamill's illumination of the same, mixed in with Austen's prose.  Bits of famous dialogue were transposed to other scenes where they rested comfortably, rather like dance partners where one gives way so the other can shine.

Keeping with the stage language that Hamill built with Tucker, Dehnert incorporates double-casting, music and dance, cirque and stage tricks, but unlike some of Tucker's work, everything serves the moment beautifully.  Gone is the mania in favor of mischievous metaphor.  And instead of abandoning her actors during profound moments of stillness and ache, the cast and crew find aspects of awkward hilarity within the raw crisis.

     A Criticism of the Cast, Entirely Pleased

The cast is uniformly excellent, beginning with Hamill's turn as Lizzy Bennet.  In a far cry from the elegant wit of her artistic predecessors, Hamill's Lizzy is too brazen in company, too outspoken, too vivacious, too biting - in other words, too human.  This is by far my favorite turn by Hamill (she played Marianne in Sense and Sensibility and Becky Sharpe in Vanity Fair), because she has written herself, without mask, without beauty - raw, real, vulnerable and smart. 

Hamill's actual life partner and frequent collaborator, Jason O'Connell, who shone with agonized yearning in Sense and Sensibility, is back as Mr Darcy, and could not be better cast.  Whether painfully attempting the robot at a dance party, or frustrated in his inability to make this infernal woman see that he is simply right, O'Connell's Darcy manages to avoid the trap of playing the aloof ideal, instead imbuing his character with all the rigidity of an authoritarian blogger suddenly caught in the open.  His first proposal is thing of awkward beauty, as we see just how giddy it is for this man to allow himself to feel, albeit with the worst possible language at the worst possible time.

Chris Thorn as Mr Bennet is the warm personality every adaptation seems to conjure up.  But it's as the plain Charlotte Lucas that Thorn truly thrives.  Hamill's text allows this Charlotte, usually a figure of restraint, to be the mean girl - the woman who knows she's plain, and so retreats behind catty remarks that everyone will excuse in pity.  The deep pain of her unfortunate marriage to Mr Collins, and the absolute hilarity of her friendship with Lizzy are the heart of every scene they share.  While a man in drag as the "plain Jane" could easily be played for laughs, Thorn goes for nuance and reality.

John Tufts manages to switch - miraculously at times - between dour Mary Bennet and enthusiastic Mr Bingley with a single flip of the hair.  While Hamill's script wrings out happily and quite satisfactorily every puppy metaphor possible for Bingley's story-arc, unsurprisingly it's in the role of Mary Bennet that Tufts shines.  (Hamill has declared that her intention as a playwright is to create more vibrant roles for women, and it shows.)  Played with an edge of a morose vampire with self-righteous idealism, Mary manages to be at once piteable and mockable - a compliment that may be paid to every member of the cast and crew.  And the very line that Austen's best work treads.

As Bingley's paramour, Amelia Pedlow charms as Jane Bennet, the over-demure sister of the house, whose meekness nearly loses her the game of love.  However, just as one thinks that Amelia's sole talent lies in playing the typical female ingenue, she comes on as Lady Catherine DeBourgh's daughter - here re-imagined as the veiled and impish love child of Cousin Itt.

Nance Williamson as Mrs Bennet (and a handful of butlers) both embraces her artistic predecessors' predilection to play the family matriarch as a hysterical comic relief, and eschews the caricature, largely aided by Hamill's script that sees Mrs Bennet's plight as a drill sergeant charged with getting her recruits through the game of love successfully.

On the night we attended, Laura Baranik, who delighted in Sense and Sensibility, took on the roles of Lydia and Lady Catherine DeBourgh.  Both were well-played, especially Lydia, whom we realize through Hamill's clever exploration, is really the only daughter to soak up Mrs Bennet's coaching to win the marital game.  Even if it's to disastrous effect.

That same night, Jeremy Peter Johnson understudied for the triple-threat of Mr Collins (here an enthusiastic thesaurus of a botanist), Mr Wickham (as dashing and dastardly as one could wish), and Ms Bingley (giving every regal character actor who's inhabited the role a run for her money).

In Which We Reach a Conclusion; Which May Be Read In Advance of the Article

I rarely give a standing ovation for a show anymore.  Call it jadedness.  Call it a desire for art to be truly great.  Call it sheer peevishness - what you will.  But I'll tell you this:

I was up and out of my chair before the lights went out. 

     Hamill doesn't just adapt Austen,
     she dances with her. 

Those very themes that make Pride and Prejudice timeless: the Beauty and the Beast resonances, the exploration of masculinity and femininity that make us cry la plus ça change, the dangers of treating matrimony like a game, the hesitancy of true love - so different from what rom-coms would have us believe - all of these are laid bare in Hamill's brilliant adaptation under Dehnert's direction.

Where Hamill departs from slavish imitation, she illuminates and adapts best.  Where she lets her own voice break through - rambling or hesitant or strident or precise - as she does in both proposals, the text strikes true and we are left breathless at the story once again.

There are only a few more chances to see this production with the original cast.  Kate Hamill has proven herself the Austen we need now.  Get out your purse; this play is worth every penny.  Very highly recommended.

Pride and Prejudice, produced by Primary Stages, plays at the Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce Street, NYC through January 6, 2018.

Tickets begin at $82, and are available through OvationTix.

The cast of Pride and Prejudice, featuring playwright Kate Hamill as Elizabeth Bennet (center left), and Jason O'Connell as Mr. Darcy (center).  Directed by Amanda Dehnert.

Kate Hamill as Lizzy and Jason O'Connell as Mr Darcy in Primary Stages' 2017 Production of Pride and Prejudice.  Photo by James Leynse.

Mrs. Bennet (Nance Williamson) readies Lizzy (Kate Hamill) at the Netherfield Ball, while Charlotte (Chris Thorn) waits and Jane (Amelia Pedlow) and Mr Bingley (Mark Bedard) dance.  Photo by James Leynse.

The Bennet Family, Jane (Amelia Pedlow), Mary (John Tufts), Mrs Bennet (Nance Williamson), Lizzy (Kate Hamill), Lydia (Kimberly Chatterjee), and Mr Bennet (Chris Thorn, center).  Photo by James Leynse.

How To Write Your Own Jane Austen Novel Read the companion piece to this review!

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