Susquehanna University’s production of Kate Hamil’s adaptation of Pride & Prejudice (April 23-25 in the Degenstein Family Theatre) takes its source material with a light touch. Taking Hamil’s advisory “play the character, not the gender” to heart, we are diving into the process with a diverse cast whose gender, race, and physical abilities might not have made much sense in Jane Austen’s England. But collective Bridgerton fantasies aside, the plethora of bodyminds on stage helps remind us that many more straight-laced “period” portrayals of the Regency period might forget to question the normative assumptions about gender we (Jane Austen fanfolks and Rege Jean-Page enthusiasts alike ) often project on the time.
For one, the Regency was a time of ostentatious male vanity, brought out in the stomach-flattening, shoulder enhancing corsets that, for once, were teaching men to hold their breath. With training from our brilliant costume shop, our multigendered cast is learning to strap themselves into “five-bone corsets” that help them (literally) embody the cultural constraints of that time – and may expose our Insta-filtered age in, well, uncomfortable ways.
As a note of solidarity, and a gesture to equity in process, the costume shop has also equipped me with a corset of my own, to wear whenever we are doing movement and vocal work. Photos to come?
Lastly, as the characters play the game of love by obsessing over balls (and other sweaty summer entertainments) and negotiating the dynamics of “shame,” Hamil’s adaptation also finds plenty of room for her signature double entendres. This is a professional blog, though, so I’ll let you fill in the holes.
dan j ruppel 