A friend of mine has said that he doesn’t always appreciate theatrical adaptations of the novels of Jane Austen because in the theatre, where everything progresses through the encounters of the characters with one another as we attend to their dialogue, the stage has no place for the narrator —  the author, Austin  — whose observations, often witty and sometimes profound, my friend finds for him the most enjoyable rewards of the novels. He misses the narrator’s voice in the theatre.

Though I lack the thoroughness of my friend’s acquaintance with Austen’s writings, I have enjoyed enough of it to appreciate his position. 

But I had little of that sense of loss while enjoying the current production by the Washington University Performing Arts Department of the dramatization of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice by the playwright and actor Kate Hamill. I was enjoying too much the performance I was watching to be distracted or disappointed by anything that was missing. I was constantly amused and sometimes amazed by the clarity of their understanding of these young people of about their age, clarity even of their confusions. For the excellence of this work I credit certainly the performers themselves as well as the faculty who have educated and trained them, in particular director William Whitaker, whose direction I have always found to have that essential magic of the theatre about it, and playwright Hamill who has given them such solid material to work with. 

Hope McKinney’s Lizzy Bennet never stops learning more about herself and her world, and Tristan Dumas is as unpleasant as Mr. Darcy should be. Chethan Chandra and Ellen Schaaf are the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, and Parker Lesher, Gus Lookingbill, and Leo Young are the sisters Jane, Mary, and Lydia Bennett. Cole Becker is Mr. Bingley, really a nice guy despite some misleading moments. Christopher Aung plays the rogue Wickham, Trinity Weinhaus is the pompous Mr. Collins, and Alexa Wells is the snobbish Miss Bingley.  Stella Larson and Ava Wang are the sickly Miss De Bourgh and her overbearing mother, the Lady Catherine De Bourgh. Ella Sherlock is Elizabeth’s friend Charlotte Lucas. Tom Meng, Clara Nipper, and Cameron Tollefsen double in a variety of supporting roles.

Katie Plum created the intriguing scenic and projection designs. Dominique (Nikki) Green clad the men as expected in the period, while the women, also period, wore a collection of lovely frocks. Caroline McNinch designed the lighting and Sean M. Savoie the sound, with props by Emily Frei. Seamus Curtin is the Stage Manager, assisted by Clara Erdelac and AJ Harness.

I spent a lovely afternoon with PAD’s Pride and Prejudice.

—Bob Wilcox

Photo by Danny Reise/WashU
Front row, from the left: Hope McKinney as Lizzy, Tristan Dumas as Darcy and Cole Becker as Bingley in Pride and Prejudice.