We have read the book as part of our general reading
curriculum, and have probably seen the TV series and the movie,
so do we need to see a play adapted from Jane Austen’s celebrated novel Pride
and Prejudice? And why the Gate Theatre, one of Dublin’s cornerstone
dramatic companies, in the 43rd
Hong Kong Arts Festival?
Not that I remember much of the story – I’m not even sure I
can claim to have read the book cover to cover, and I watched the movie
haphazardly on the plane a few years ago – so I was keen to refresh my patchy
memory. After all, it’s important that as
someone who claims to have studied literature I should be able to carry on a conversation
about such a stalwart tome of literary fame.
Besides, I was driven by an intense sense of curiosity.
Many years ago, an old friend and mentor, who had once apparently
given medical advice to Micheàl MacLiammóir, introduced me to the Gate Theatre
that he and his partner Hilton Edwards founded in the 1920s. I certainly own more copies than the average
person would of his output – his memoirs Enter
a Goldfish, a photocopy copy of Theatre
In Ireland, a tape of his one-man show I
Must Be Talking to My Friends, pirate copies of The Importance of
Being Oscar and of him reading his memoirs for the BBC in five
instalments and his joint effort with Eavan Boland W.
B. Yeats. I even have a copy of Put
Money in Thy Purse, his account of the filming of Orson Welles’ Othello. Surely, aside from Yeats and Lady Gregory,
MacLiammóir must have done more than anyone for drama in Ireland? Unfortunately, despite having visited Dublin
a couple of times, I have never watched a performance at the Gate. Hence the rush to get tickets for Pride & Prejudice.
Jane Austen does a fine job with her characters. One cannot help but feel sympathy for the
harrowed Mr Bennet, surrounded by six women in his family whose strengths and
weaknesses he thoroughly understands.
The “headstrong” and independent-minded Elisabeth; the sedate but
somewhat dreamy Jane; the studious but not very talented Mary; the bouncy
Kitty; the scatterbrain Lydia; and the hysterical Mrs Bennet, whose sole concern
was to marry his daughters off to fortune, are enough to drive someone with a
less robust constitution quite mad.
James Maxwell’s adaptation skilfully preserves the wit of
the story and adds colour unique to the dramatic medium. While the tortuous courtship of Mr Darcy and
Lizzy Bennet takes centre stage, the crisp dialogue makes the story come to
life. Alan Stanford’s staging enlivens the
production with double-takes and throwaways between Mr and Mrs Bennet. The simple set of a small book-shelf on one
side of a large room which transforms into a ballroom with the help of servants
and officers is ingenious.
No stage production is ever complete without fine
acting. Lorna Quinn is undoubtedly star
of the show, not only in the importance of the part, but of her studied
portrayal of the conflicting feelings for Mr Darcy that rip her apart. Sam O’Mahony as Mr Darcy, on the other hand,
appears lacklustre by contrast, probably constrained by the nature of the
character and its motivations. The
sisters all deliver credible performances, with Aoibhín Garrihy’s Jane standing
out as the best. Quietly stealing the
show, however, are Stephen Brennan and Marion O’Dwyer as Mr and Mrs Bennet
respectively. Their small gestures and
interactions totally at cross purposes to each other provide a comic edge to
the play. By the way, Deirdre Donnelly’s
Lady Catherine de Bourgh is the very embodiment of the worst in the British
class politics a couple of centuries ago.
The Gate Theatre’s production of Pride and Prejudice showed me how wrong I was to think that Jane
Austen’s well-worn novel had been done to death. It’s fresh, lively and enjoyable. In the programme notes, I also learned that
the author’s connection to Ireland is more than meets the eye. Although she never married, she was
apparently once linked, possibly romantically, to Thomas Langlois Lefroy of
Limerick, who rose to become Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Whatever the excuse, kudos to the Hong Kong
Arts Festival for bringing the Gate Theatre production to Hong Kong.
