Long Wharf Turns Jane Austen Inside Out

Aneisa J. Hicks and Octavia Chávez-Richmond, who play Lizzie and Jane Bennett in Long Wharf Theatre’s upcoming production of Pride and Prejudice, are seizing the moment, along with the rest of the cast and crew, as the theatre heads in a bold new direction under Artistic Director Jacob G. Padrón. This direction includes bringing younger and more diverse voices, and hopefully audiences, to the regional theatre anchor.

But then why revisit Jane Austen? Hicks and Chávez-Richmond have answers to that.

“The fact that we have a director who is very focused on that — the minute details,” Chávez-Richmond said of the play’s move toward diversity and youth, ​“that’s wonderful, but triple that when you have an institution that’s behind you 1,000 percent.”

“It can continue to change policy rather than be glossed over or smiled away,” she added.

For her part, Hicks said she saw evidence of Long Wharf’s rejuvenation from the moment she arrived to work on Pride and Prejudice, which runs Nov. 27 to Dec. 22.

“The way we were brought into this space was different than my experience with other organizations,” she said. Cast members began in a circle, introducing themselves and their gender pronouns. ​“There’s a lot more attention being paid to the people who are in the production. There’s a care toward us and our bodies, our minds and our different experiences — specifically from the administration and the director,” Jess McLeod, Hicks said.

But then why revisit Pride and Prejudice? The story, about a whip-smart young woman in 19th-century upper-middle-class British society navigating and flouting social mores while finding love in unexpected places, may be a classic — many would argue that it’s Jane Austen’s finest novel, making it also one of the finest novels in the canon of English literature. But this has also made it a source for numerous adaptations already. There was a film version of it by 1940, and a 2005 take starring Keira Knightley. The beloved 1995 BBC miniseries starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth hewed very close to the source, thrilling fans of the novel. Bridget Jones’ Diary adapted the story for the modern era in 2001, and a successful web series, The Lizzie Bennett Diaries, brought it into the internet age in 2012. There is even, of course, 2009’s novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which was made into a movie in 2016.

Has Austen’s story possibly been, well, done to death? Does it still work in our current political moment?

“Why do we keep doing these plays that we’ve inherited from Anglophiles?” said Chávez-Richmond. ​“It’s the question this play puts in the forefront because it has to.”

By ​“this play,” Chávez-Richmond is talking about acclaimed young playwright Kate Hamill’s comic and feminist take on Austen’s story, which condenses the novel into a fast-paced two-act play that has bewitched, bothered, and bewildered audiences and critics since it premiered in 2017; it has been produced all over the country since.

“I am personally a huge fan of contemporary female playwrights and queer playwrights, and there’s so much coming out that’s for the first time representing the people that we are on the stage,” Chávez-Richmond said.

The interrogation of Austen’s story continues with Long Wharf’s casting all nonwhite actors to tell it. ​“We’re opening up the story simply by being present in the space,” Hicks said. ​“If we are not the status quo, if we’re not the default, it is in itself a cultural statement.” Cast and director have all dug deep as a result. ​“Moving though the space, we made it a point to imbue it with the experiences that we all have — with a nod to the time but allowing it to be ours…. Some scenes are deeper in a different sense because the people don’t look like the tradition.” They’ve made a few changes, from lines to clothing, ​“with all the love in the world.”

For both actors, that kind of incisive work was necessary because, as Chávez-Richmond pointed out, in the society of Austen’s original story, ​“none of us would actually be there.”

Hicks mentioned that, even for her own mother’s conception of Pride and Prejudice, ​“in her mind, she sees it as white people with British accents. I’m doing this for her. I want to show her that there’s something else that you can be.” Her goal of acting with a specific audience in mind extends to younger, nonwhite audiences who may come to see the play at Long Wharf.

“It’s important that they see themselves” onstage, Hicks said. ​“The default is something that we’ve been fed over and over again, and there’s some unlearning that we have to do.” For younger audiences, ​“their unlearning happens sooner and earlier, and we can do it with love.”

So this production of Pride and Prejudice is ultimately not about keeping people out, but making room to let everyone in. ​“Just because the story doesn’t look like you doesn’t mean that it’s not you,” Hicks said. ​“Now we’re in a time in this culture when we’re asking what we should have been asking fro the beginning. You understand that we are humans first and foremost. Stories are for everybody. Be loving to the people who are receiving the story with you. That’s the way we can create community from the beginning,” among the actors, between actors and audience — and, possibly among people who have seen the play and the greater society they all interact with in their day-to-day lives.

Can a play do that kind of cultural work? Both Hicks and Chávez-Richmond believe the answer is yes, even if it’s just a little.

“You wouldn’t do a play unless you felt some hope that tomorrow the sun’s going to come up,” Chávez-Richmond said.

Pride and Prejudice runs at Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Dr., Nov. 27 to Dec. 22. Visit the theater’s website for tickets and more information.