Austen’s ‘Pride’ to open UT’s spring season

So sublime and compelling a figure is Mr. Darcy, the prideful, prejudicial hero of “Pride and Prejudice,” that the next dog in this writer’s household undoubtedly will be named accordingly.

Such is the apparently eternal lure of Jane Austen’s novel, first published in 1813. So shrewd an observer of human nature was Austen that her fictional creations continue to populate the 21st century in venues ranging from the shopping malls of America to university faculty meetings.

“Austen uses a delightful mixture of comedy and seriousness to capture universal truths about human nature,” says Emily Auerbach, professor of English and liberal studies and the arts and an expert on Austen. Auerbach is a special consultant for UW–Madison’s University Theatre (UT) production of “Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice,” opening Friday, Feb. 24.

“In ‘Pride and Prejudice’ we meet people much like ourselves and our neighbors: giddy teenagers, name droppers, insecure flatterers, mothers-in-law from hell, snobs convinced that they come from better ‘stock’ than the rest of us, mismatched married couples. In Elizabeth Bennet, Austen creates an entirely new kind of heroine, one whose liveliness of mind and affectionate disposition are far more important than her superficial appearance. Austen creates characters who jump off the page and into our lives,” Auerbach says.

The adaptation by James Maxwell that brings these vivid creations from page to stage certainly will help get them into the audiences’ lives and experience, says Barbara Clayton, the faculty member in the Department of Theatre and Drama who is directing “Pride and Prejudice.”

“Much of the language of this adaptation comes directly from Austen’s dialogue — the book is written in dialogue that transfers very well to the stage,” Clayton says. “The stage allows us to represent the people and their world visually, and to emphasize and clarify through staging specific relationships and incidents in the book.”

About 60 students, both graduate and undergraduate, will be involved in this production as actors, scene designers, carpenters, set painters, costume designers and fitters, lighting techs and more. Clayton says that recreating the world of Regency England will present challenges for people learning their crafts.

“For the actors, the period presents challenges of period movement, language and voice. There were particular manners of social engagement and courtship, for example. The actors also have to master the dances and dialects of the period. Our scene designs give set painters a chance to display their skills in representing the English countryside. Lighting needs to create specific locales for 18 different scenes, both interior and exterior,” Clayton says. “This is such a wonderful world to create on the stage — it presents such a humorous, intelligent look at marriage and family life. Although Regency manners and conditions of marriage are different from our own, the people, with their foibles and aspirations and individuality, are entirely and instantly recognizable.”

University Theatre will present “Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice” on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24 and 25; and Thursday-Saturday, March 2-4 and 9-11. Curtain is 7:30 p.m. in Vilas Hall’s Mitchell Theatre. Auerbach will lecture about the play and sign newly released paperback copies of her book “Searching for Jane Austen” before the Feb. 25 performance. Tickets, $16 general/$12 UW–Madison students with ID, are available through the Vilas Hall Box Office, 262-1500.