Flat Rock Playhouse should be proud of ‘Pride and Prejudice’

FLAT ROCK, N.C. (828newsNOW) — You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love Kate Hamill’s stage adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice,” now playing at the Flat Rock Playhouse.

When will “Pride and Prejudice” be performed at Flat Rock Playhouse?

“Pride and Prejudice,” adapted by Hamill from Jane Austen’s novel and directed by Charlie Johnson, will be performed May 1-23 at Flat Rock Playhouse, 2661 Greenville Hwy., Flat Rock. Find tickets here.

Who stars in “Pride and Prejudice” at Flat Rock Playhouse?

“Pride and Prejudice” stars Piper Patterson as Lizzy, Matthew Christian as Mr. Darcy, Kimberly Chatterjee as Lydia/Lady Catherine, Janiah-Camile François as Jane/Miss de Bourgh, Laura Jordan as Mrs. Bennet/Servant, Neil Redfield as Mr. Collins/Wickham/Miss Bingley, Jeff Ronan as Mr. Bingley/Mary and Scott Treadway as Mr. Bennet/Charlotte.

“Pride and Prejudice” at Flat Rock Playhouse review

Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” is one of the most beloved love stories in English literature, and, consequently, one of the most adapted. There have been dozens of versions of Lizzy Bennet and Mr. Darcy across page and stage and screen. However, with her witty, glittery theater adaptation, Kate Hamill has proven that the classic story can still surprise and inspire, especially at Flat Rock Playhouse, where Hamill’s script has been brought to colorful, hilarious life.

The Flat Rock Playhouse production boasts a talented ensemble cast, including a pitch-perfect Piper Patterson as Lizzy and a duly dashing Darcy in Matthew Christian. In this show’s telling, Lizzy and Darcy are played straight down the middle, with their tame characterizations matching their iconic stature. Every other character, meanwhile, is dialed up to 11 and reduced to a few – very funny – personality traits: Lydia is catty, Mrs. Bennet is Machiavellian, Mr. Collins is an obnoxious thesaurus, etc.

To make things even zanier, but for Christian and Patterson, each cast member played multiple parts, requiring quickly changing in and out of costumes and donning wildly different personas, sometimes inside of the same scene. For instance, Jeff Ronan, in fabulously scene-stealing fashion, played Mary, the awkward, loveless Bennet sister, as an emo wraith in a dour black wig, and Mr. Bingley, the charming beau of eldest sister Jane, as a golden retriever-type in a pink frock coat. The two parts couldn’t be more different, which only added to the comedy of the performance.

Thinking about how Hamill pulled this off in her script reminded me of a jigsaw puzzle. Which characters can be in the same scene, which can’t? What cuts to the story have to be made and which are indelible to keep? How do you reconcile a small cast with a big story? Perhaps that process inspired the thematic framework of the play. In Hamill’s “Pride and Prejudice,” love is a game to win.

The Flat Rock Playhouse set was designed to evoke gameplay in a few different ways. The stage was constructed in three parts:

First, the main stage, which was artfully decorated in period dress and campy flair by scenic change artist and designer Laura Ledin. For those who have not been to a Flat Rock Playhouse show before, one of the most novel components of the theater is its moving floor, which “Pride and Prejudice” had a ball with, especially during ball scenes. The colorful costumes, designed by Tim Barham, and the “Bridgerton”-esque instrumental pop soundtrack also lent a sense of play to the stage.

Second, the proscenium arch. Like many plays of the modern era, “Pride and Prejudice” embraced the variety and potential of projected backdrops, including on the proscenium, which was designed to resemble a giant game board. Throughout the show, whenever a character moved the game of love forward, hitting landmarks like a prospective match, a party invitation or, the holy grail, a proposal, a new square would appear on the proscenium to announce the achievement. I thought the arch was an inventive way to use traditional stage construction to tell a story – projection design was by Clara Ashe-Moore Pagán – and a fun, helpful guide to keeping track of the plot, which, even condensed, is dense, as a consequence of the number of characters, subplots and romances in Austen’s story.

Third, the wings of the stage. In addition to playing their onstage parts, the “Pride and Prejudice” actors were deployed offstage, too. When an actor was not in a scene, they could be seen shrouded in shadow on the wings, where an array of tactical, old-timey Foley props were set up. These were used to simulate game-y sound effects, like an old cash machine “cha-ching” or an accentuating noise after every mention of “Lady Catherine de Bourgh.” The performers’ dedication to the show was especially telling in the precision of these unglamorous moments. Even out of the spotlight, the actors nailed every “line” of the aural onomatopoeia.

“Pride and Prejudice” buzzed with one well-played moment after another. The actors were fabulous, the adaptation was deft and the production was a pleasure to watch. Just as Lizzy and Darcy win their game of love in the end, “Pride and Prejudice” at Flat Rock Playhouse should win a sterling recommendation from anyone lucky enough to see it.

When did I know I loved it?

“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.” – Jane Austen

For more information about Flat Rock Playhouse, visit www.flatrockplayhouse.org.