If you happen to be in in Edinburgh this month then we have a treat for you. Between the 17th – 28th November, Union Theatre Company bring Pride and Prejudice to Norton Park. The story of the Jane Austen novel has been adapted by Kate Hamill.
This version brings the satire and playfulness of Austen’s novel to light whilst creating a timely new take on a classic love story. Today we speak to Hannah Fitzpatrick from the Union Theatre Company to find out more.
Hello! Tell us about yourself?
I am an academic and theatre-maker originally from California and now living in Edinburgh. When I’m not in the rehearsal room, I can usually be found in the archive doing research or curled up in a chair reading a book.
Tell us about Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a recent adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel, written by the American actress and playwright Kate Hamill. It’s simultaneously an impressively faithful and a fabulously irreverent take on the source material.
Many of our audience members will know it as a romantic love story between an iconic literary heroine and her irritating, intriguing, and incredibly wealthy sparring partner. But it’s also a story about the love between siblings, between parents and children, between friends. Most importantly, it’s one of the most generous and big-hearted adaptations of Pride and Prejudice I’ve encountered.
How are rehearsals going?
Rehearsals are going great. The cast are constantly finding new ways to make me snort with laughter. We have so many complex sequences to piece together. I mean, how do you simultaneously host a ball and move actors around the stage in order to deliver dialogue at the right time in the right place? But I look forward to rehearsals because I get to spend hours every week with these iconic characters, who are coming to life before my eyes. How many people get to do that?
What can you tell us about the stage set?
I have taken the playwright at her word when she instructs directors to ‘avoid fanciness’. I want to create an immersive, playful atmosphere, for it to feel like we’re all playing dress up in our grandparents’ attic. Costume changes happen onstage, while props are tossed around and reused, sometimes in ridiculous ways.
The set is minimal, and always working double time. A trunk can be a chaise longue, a garden bench, a place to perch to escape an awkward encounter at a ball.
Tell us a little bit about the rest of the cast
It’s always a privilege when actors choose to trust you with their time and their work, and I am constantly humbled by how much talent walks into the room each day.
The cast is made up of some of the finest actors currently on stage in Edinburgh. I can’t gush enough about how much I love working with them. They make me laugh, they make me cry. I want to be all of them when I grow up.
What is the most challenging thing about doing the show?
There is a unique pressure to staging something so beloved and recognisable as Pride and Prejudice.
A lot of people will walk into the theatre with a deeply personal emotional attachment to this story and these characters and it can be hard to shake off the weight of those expectations.
But ultimately this is our moment to tell this story our way, and the actors are embracing the challenge of creating new, surprising characters that feel fresh and timely.
What have been some of the highlights of doing the show?
I am usually drawn to plays that are transgressive, that deal with subject matter that is emotionally difficult to stage and to watch, and that challenge audiences to sit with discomfort.
The main highlight of this show is that, while I still bring that sensibility to this text, the overall mood of the piece is one of fun. It has been incredibly cathartic.
I’ve also really enjoyed getting to be part of the inaugural season of a new theatre company in Edinburgh. It’s a very exciting time for Union Theatre.
What reactions are you hoping from audiences?
I hope that every person who sees this show finds something new or surprising in it, whether they have never heard of Pride and Prejudice or they grew up watching the 1995 BBC mini-series every year at Christmas. And I know I keep going on about the fun and the joy, but I also hope audiences consider some of the real social issues explored in the story: the economics of marriage in British society, the high stakes of the situation facing these women, and the performance and policing of social class.
If people want to follow you on social media where can they find you?
Follow Union Theatre Company @uniontheatreco on Facebook and Instagram.
Finally in three words why should people come to your show?
To feel joy.
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