Rustington Players offer their very own version of Pride and Prejudice

SussexWorld

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, adapted and directed by Nadya Henwood, is the latest production from the Rustington Players, with performances at The Woodlands Centre from November 13-16.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. It's lovely

00:05this afternoon to speak to Nadia Henwood, who's done something rather remarkable. You've

00:09adapted Pride and Prejudice for the stage for Rusting Players. Not just adapted, you're

00:15also directing it. But the starting point for you, this is your absolute favourite book.

00:20Now, what makes Pride and Prejudice so special for you?

00:25I just love the way Austin writes, really, and particularly Pride and Prejudice. I think

00:29it's her most complete book, in the sense of the characters that she portrays. I think

00:35Lizzie, particularly, the heroine, is just such a complete character.

00:38What do you mean by a complete character?

00:41Well, in the sense that she's got good points and she's got bad points. She's very likeable

00:48and fun, but, you know, she is prejudiced against Darcy to begin with, so she's not

00:54a perfect person. I guess she's more real.

00:59And adapting, obviously, you can't include everything. In a sense, it's your selection,

01:04isn't it, for the stage from the novel. What was really crucial to get across, do you think?

01:12Oh, well, I guess I wanted to show the elements of Pride and Prejudice in terms of

01:20not only Darcy and Lizzie, but everyone else as well. And I also wanted to show the funny

01:26bits, the humorous bits about laughing at Mr. Collins, Mrs. Bennet, who is a ridiculous

01:31character, really. And also someone like Lady Catherine de Bourgh and how major she is.

01:40So, yeah, lots of different elements.

01:44And how do you think we enjoy Austen these days? Because, obviously, it's a very different

01:48society, more than two centuries on. Are we looking at a period piece and thinking,

01:52how quaint, or is it absolutely universal truth about how people still behave?

01:57Yeah, well, I think that's exactly right. I think there's a lot of it that you can still

02:03see in people's behavior today. You can still see mothers that are desperate for their daughters

02:09to be settled. It might not have to be married in the same sense, but they want them to be

02:15settled. You can still see a lot of sibling rivalry, girls being very close to each other,

02:21sisters, but also fighting as well. There's still the whole love story element, the romantic

02:28side of it, but people want their hero. So, yeah, I think there's still a lot that's true of today.

02:35Yeah, it sounds fabulous. So, it's the Rutherdington Players, Nadia's version.

02:42Congratulations on completing it.

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