For two weekends in April, the Performing Arts Center was brought back in time to the romance of 19th century rural England. With lively music, elegant dances and a tale of witty romance, Paly Theatre captured the Regency era with their Spring production of Pride and Prejudice.
“This production is one of my favorite projects I’ve been in,” Sophomore Jani Jian, who played Mrs. Gardiner said. “ I love Pride and Prejudice, it’s one of my favorite romance tales.”
Paly students performed a Jon Jory adaptation of the acclaimed classic of the same name by Jane Austen, following the journey of Elizabeth Bennet and her family as they navigate the complex social circles of regency society.
“She is such a real character and one that is oddly really similar to myself, so it felt kind of natural navigating the complexities of her character and adding my own spin on it,” Senior Aashi Agarwal, who played Elizabeth Bennet said. “It was definitely an intimidating task because she is such a beloved character, and was the most demanding role for me line and stage-time wise.”
Despite the plot revolving around Agarwal’s character, Paly Theatre Director Sarah Thermond wanted to incorporate as much of the strong supporting and secondary characters as possible.
“[Jane Austen] is the champion of supporting and featured characters who really represent important things and majorly impact the plot, so I really wanted to do an adaptation that kept as many of the characters from the original in as truthful a rendition of them as possible,” Thermond said. “[The show] is an adaptation that includes so much of the original [novel], everything has to move really fast, which means there’s so many cues, sets and dances.”
Thermond explained how the scale of the production was made possible by a large turnout of student participants.
“It was also our largest cast we’ve ever had for a play, so just a lot of moving pieces and people who all needed to coordinate.”
The size of the cast brought a lively atmosphere fitting for the regency setting.
“Compared to some other shows, ensemble roles in this show had a lot of really fun things to do with the dances being in large scenes together, beautiful costumes,” Thermond said.
In order to stay loyal to historic accuracy, the cast and crew learned new skills and sets. For Agarwal, depicting a character from the 19th century was both challenging and enjoyable.
“It is fun to tap into and get a little glimpse into the world within time periods we will never get to experience through all the tech elements that are researched perfectly to fully immerse the actors and the audience,” Agarwal said. “However, it also introduces dynamics into the characters that are less appropriate in modern times, but were perfectly acceptable back then.”
Pride and Prejudice was the product of 4 months worth of rehearsals and after-school hours. For Jian, this proved stressful yet fulfilling.
“As both an actor and an artist for this show, I’d say it’s very exhausting, along with school work and study,” Jian said. “Art takes time, effort, and love, so if you don’t put your heart into the work, it won’t come out soulful.”
Jian was also tasked with the poster design for the show, where she used her skills as a digital artist.
“The inspiration for this poster was vintage paintings, old photos and movie posters because I really appreciate the grainy, historical feel in vintage, old fashioned items,” Jian said. “There is a very specific beauty in that, so I wanted to, and made an effort to incorporate it in the poster.”
Even with the workload, the end result of the poster and show made it all worth it for Jian.
“Despite how stressful it was, it’s an honor, and I genuinely enjoyed working as an actor and artist for Pride and Prejudice.”
