PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Kate Hamill from Jane Austen
Long Wharf Theatre
sets | Gerardo Díaz Sanchez
lights | Jennifer Fok
costumes | Izumi Inaba
sound | Megumi Katayama
choreo | James Beaudry
photos: T. Charles Erickson
“Long Wharf redefines Pride and Prejudice. Google other productions and you’ll mainly see white actors in period costumes in 19th century settings. With director Jess McLeod (the resident director of the long-running Chicago production of Hamilton) at the helm, Long Wharf takes the spirit of Hamill’s refreshing rewrite of Austen’s romance and ramps it up....” -Hartford Courant
“Director Jess McLeod and a contingent of splendid actors bring a sparkling and quite clever version of Pride and Prejudice to Long Wharf….a thoughtful and well-executed farce…” -Talkin’ Broadway
“…rebellious, radical and revealing.” -New Haven Register
“a high-tech and highly unusual production that really works” -Zander Opper
“McLeod has done a tremendous job, mining the text for its sweetness but also its farce, irreverence, wit and current resonance. From the moment the lights come up, characters are in motion, fusing period dance styles with a smooth, contemporary sort of sensibility. Their bodies conform to the English country dance and the scotch reel, but it also looks like they could cut the line and electrify a club at any time. In a stew of lily-white adaptations, the cast is composed entirely of actors of color, with characters who suddenly reflect the city in which the play has landed. It’s refreshing to see, and all the more meaningful because McLeod doesn’t name it outright: she just invites the audience to see themselves in the show. ” -New Haven Arts
