Pride and Prejudice (Hamill)
by Jane Austen, Kate Hamill

Name: Pride and Prejudice (Hamill)
Brand: Jane Austen
SKU: 9780822238577
Rating: 4.09 (9 reviews)

Off-Broadway

Pride and Prejudice (Hamill) Book Cover — Pride and Prejudice (Hamill) Cover

Highlights

Female

Male

120 mins 19th Century Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle) Unit Set/Multiple Settings Period Costumes Comedy

Synopsis

This isn’t your grandmother’s Austen!

Bold, surprising, boisterous and timely, this Pride and Prejudice for a new era explores the absurdities and thrills of finding your perfect (or imperfect) match in life.

The outspoken Lizzy Bennet is determined to never marry, despite mounting pressure from society.

But can she resist love, especially when that vaguely handsome, mildly amusing and impossibly aggravating Mr. Darcy keeps popping up at every turn?!

Literature’s greatest tale of latent love has never felt so theatrical or so full of life as it does in this effervescent adaptation.

Because what turns us into greater fools than the high-stakes game of love?

Press Reviews

"Hamill has a gift for condensing three-volume novels into galloping two-act plays. Her screwball Pride and Prejudice is as frolicsome as her earlier efforts. It hasn’t met a rib it can’t tickle."
— The New York Times

"The ever-ingenious Hamill has given us something completely and delightfully different, a smallish-cast period-dress Pride and Prejudice adapted with fizzy, festive freedom. Hamill’s is full of Bringing Up Baby-style slapstick and the kind of barely controlled chaos that you’d expect to see in a five-door Feydeau farce."
— Wall Street Journal

"Gives Austen’s novel a deliciously antic sensibility. This Pride and Prejudice has comedy at its heart, but regarding the treatment of women, it shows us enough unsettling similarities between the 18th century and now to make us pause thoughtfully between laughs."
— TheaterMania

"Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice has fun and charm to spare. Hamill excels as a condenser of the story and a conveyor of fun. She cleverly squeezes Austen’s wide-ranging drawing-room comedy into the bodies of eight actors, almost all doubling to delightful and even moving effect."
— New York Magazine

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
ACTOR 1 Plays JANE, late 20s to early 30s. The eldest and most beautiful Bennet daughter. Kind, idealistic, diffident. Always tries to do the right thing; and MISS de BOURGH, Lady Catherine’s daughter, a gremlin. Probably allergic to sun. Underneath all her veils, she may be covered in scales.	female	20s	Plays JANE, late 20s to early 30s. The eldest and most beautiful Bennet daughter. Kind, idealistic, diffident. Always tries to do the right thing; and MISS de BOURGH, Lady Catherine’s daughter, a gremlin. Probably allergic to sun. Underneath all her veils, she may be covered in scales.
ACTOR 2 Plays LIZZY, a year or two younger than Jane. Clever, spirited; can be sharp-tongued. Gets flustered, which makes her klutzy. Prides herself on good judgment. Not especially beautiful. Very very scared of marriage, after absorbing the lessons of her parents’ marriage. (The actor playing Lizzy must not double.)	female	—	Plays LIZZY, a year or two younger than Jane. Clever, spirited; can be sharp-tongued. Gets flustered, which makes her klutzy. Prides herself on good judgment. Not especially beautiful. Very very scared of marriage, after absorbing the lessons of her parents’ marriage. (The actor playing Lizzy must not double.)
ACTOR 3 LYDIA, 14. The youngest Bennet. Lively, prone to imitating others’ behavior and eavesdropping; and LADY CATHERINE, patrician Caesar-meets-drill sergeant.	—	—	LYDIA, 14. The youngest Bennet. Lively, prone to imitating others’ behavior and eavesdropping; and LADY CATHERINE, patrician Caesar-meets-drill sergeant.
ACTOR 4 Plays MR. DARCY, late 30s to 40s. One of the richest men in England. Too proper for his own good; awkward in most social contexts. Prides himself on self-control and good judgment. (The actor playing Mr. Darcy must not double.)	male	30s	Plays MR. DARCY, late 30s to 40s. One of the richest men in England. Too proper for his own good; awkward in most social contexts. Prides himself on self-control and good judgment. (The actor playing Mr. Darcy must not double.)
ACTOR 5 Plays MR. COLLINS, a pedantic, obtuse man. The original mansplainer. Rector to Lady Catherine; WICKHAM, an unfairly handsome and charming gentleman. Probably a sociopath. Raised with Darcy; and MISS BINGLEY, a very rich, very beautiful young woman. Fancies herself witty.	female	—	Plays MR. COLLINS, a pedantic, obtuse man. The original mansplainer. Rector to Lady Catherine; WICKHAM, an unfairly handsome and charming gentleman. Probably a sociopath. Raised with Darcy; and MISS BINGLEY, a very rich, very beautiful young woman. Fancies herself witty.
ACTOR 6 Plays MR. BINGLEY, late 30s to 40s. Loves the world and the world loves him. Mr. Darcy’s particular friend. Almost literally a dog; and MARY, the third Bennet girl. Violent and dark undertones; prone to pedanticism and sulking. A dark goth Brontë character trapped in an Austen world. Coughs to get attention, or to make a point; may fancy that she is dying.	female	30s	Plays MR. BINGLEY, late 30s to 40s. Loves the world and the world loves him. Mr. Darcy’s particular friend. Almost literally a dog; and MARY, the third Bennet girl. Violent and dark undertones; prone to pedanticism and sulking. A dark goth Brontë character trapped in an Austen world. Coughs to get attention, or to make a point; may fancy that she is dying.
ACTOR 7 Plays CHARLOTTE LUCAS, same age as Lizzy. A practical girl with a good sense of humor; and MR. BENNET, the patriarch of the Bennet family. Finds amusement in absurdity; often looks for respectable escape from the chaos of his family life. Can be somewhat apathetic; probably a bit depressed, under everything. Enjoys antagonizing. Disappointed in marriage.	female	—	Plays CHARLOTTE LUCAS, same age as Lizzy. A practical girl with a good sense of humor; and MR. BENNET, the patriarch of the Bennet family. Finds amusement in absurdity; often looks for respectable escape from the chaos of his family life. Can be somewhat apathetic; probably a bit depressed, under everything. Enjoys antagonizing. Disappointed in marriage.
ACTOR 8 Plays MRS. BENNET, the matriarch of the Bennet family. Mostly a silly woman, of mean understanding and variable temper. Hypochondriac; when she’s upset, she fancies that she’s dying. The business of her life is to get her daughters married. She traumatizes her family with some regularity; and SERVANTS, all servants with lines in this production happen to be characters who are men.	female	—	Plays MRS. BENNET, the matriarch of the Bennet family. Mostly a silly woman, of mean understanding and variable temper. Hypochondriac; when she’s upset, she fancies that she’s dying. The business of her life is to get her daughters married. She traumatizes her family with some regularity; and SERVANTS, all servants with lines in this production happen to be characters who are men.