CMU School of Drama


Thursday, October 11, 2018

Pride and Prejudice is a gloriousl "theatrical event"

Pittsburgh Current: It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that classic works of literature are not necessarily met with similar acclaim when translated to other art forms. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has been, since it’s 1813 debut, adapted into several stage versions, a few movies, a couple of musicals and even an opera … none of which would you call huge successes.

1 comment:

Allison Gerecke said...

For some reason, I’ve always loved Pride and Prejudice, and I’m not entirely sure why. I’ve never been a huge fan of classic literature, but something about the story just made it fun to read; the second I finished for the first time, I flipped back to the first page and started over. I’ve seen the movie and enjoyed it, and now I’m glad that there is a stage production that is trying to carry the spirit of the book rather than its exact words. I liked that this article didn’t shy away from criticism, which appears to be valid- it sounds like the playwright in her reimagining removed some characters and revamped some dialogue that changed the story in some way- but I would like to go see it anyway. I agree with the article’s author that a direct reading of Austen would most likely leave the audience bored, and I think that a script written and changed by someone who loves the original text seems like a great way to handle this.