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.
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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.