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Review of Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice. Adapted by Joseph Hanreddy and J. R. Sullivan. Directed by Tyne Rafaeli, American Players Theatre. Spring Green, WI, Up-the-Hill Theatre, Spring Green, WI, July 22, 2015.
Toward the end of the first act of Tyne Rafaeli's delightful adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, I realized I had stopped comparing the play to other versions. The players transported me to a new and fully realized interpretation of the well-known story, one that offered an unexpected and multilayered dissection of the brief but pivotal epistolary moments from the novel. For instance, when Mr. Darcy (Marcus Truschinski) decides to reveal the contents of his letter to Elizabeth Bennet (Kelsey Brennan)-after she has rebuffed his proposal-the various aspects of his confessional are first read by Darcy himself and then by the characters he discusses. This move allows newcomers to Pride and Prejudice to keep up with the gentry's gossip through visual cues, asking us to consider the relationship between Austen's novel and Rafaeli's play. Whereas letters on stage could merely be read by their writers, Joseph Hanreddy and J. R. Sullivan's script highlights the inherently scripted quality of the epistolary form.
The scenic American Players' outdoor "Up-the-Hill" theatre provided an ideal location...