We’re a nation in the throes of Jane’s addiction. Jane Austen, that is.
Nearly 200 years after her death, England’s first significant female novelist is still spinning her witticisms on class and romance everywhere from stage to screens, both small and silver.
From “Clueless” to “Emma” to the new “Jane Austen Book Club,” perhaps no other period author has remained so timelessly relevant to contemporary audiences, especially teenage girls.
The Denver Center Theatre Company tonight opens a new adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice,” which has been made into six films since 1938 and inspired at least two others (“Bridget Jones’ Diary,” “Bride and Prejudice”). It’s about a mother whose sole interest is to see her five daughters happily — and wealthily — wed.
Nisi Sturgis, who plays Elizabeth, and Brenda Withers (Jane), noticed the pop- culture continuum from the first preview performance.
“We were marveling that we saw all these young women in the audience, which can be rare in theater,” Sturgis said. They are coming in packs, Withers added, 13-year- olds experiencing the story as a community.
“We really felt they were on the edge of their seats,” she said. “You just know all these girls are going home and saying, ‘That guy was just like Bobby.’ ”
Withers first got sucked into the Austen vortex with “Emma” a dozen years ago, and only because, she said, that film was everywhere. “Then it was a torrent, and you just read everything she’s ever written. You just devour it.”
Sturgis was in grad school when she casually told a stupefied classmate she had never read Austen. She went out and bought Sturgis the “Pride and Prejudice” BBC miniseries.
“I started to watch it at 9 p.m. thinking I would watch one episode,” she said. “Next, the sun rises. I had started on my sofa, and I ended up on the floor in front of the TV, holding the set watching that last scene amazed and wrecked and totally in awe.”
What got to her? “To see a character like Elizabeth, who is so fiercely independent, so self-defined, be humbled,” she said. “She went through this unbelievable struggle and became a different person. And through that, she came to understand her world, her family and herself better — and that’s why she was then able to receive love.”
But both actors strongly believe Austen endures as a pop-culture icon because her tales are about more than just the hook-up. “It’s not just boy gets girl,” Withers said. It’s epic, intergenerational storytelling that says different things to readers of different ages — even men.
“It’s more than romance; it’s what defines a human being,” Sturgis said. “There’s nothing more universal than to have two people holding each other accountable, and the epiphanies of who they are happen because of this love. I think everybody is on that search to find that in their life.”
And not just young people. “You don’t just read this book when you are getting ready for prom,” Withers said. “You can read it no matter what’s going on in your life and you can attach to it. My mom just re-read the book, and it wasn’t any less intoxicating to her just because she’s been married for 30 years. It’s still fascinating because now she’s looking at it from the point of view of a mother.
“I’m really interested in how it affects males as well.”
It’s worth noting that Austen wrote “Pride and Prejudice” (then called “First Impressions”) at age 22, but it wasn’t published until 13 years later, and that Austen was never acknowledged as an author until the year after her death. It was assumed she was a man.
Further blurring the line toward gender universality is that “Pride and Prejudice” is being directed in Denver by a man (Bruce K. Sevy) from an adaptation by Jon Jory, long presumed to be the man behind the acclaimed (but never seen) playwright Jane Martin.
“To me, that speaks to the fact that this story attracts people, rather than ‘men’ or ‘women,’ ” Withers said. “It’s really about how you come to realize who you are. I really think that transcends gender.”
There’s also this little gender twist: It’s believed Austen was in love with a man while writing “Pride and Prejudice.” And that she based Darcy on herself; Elizabeth on her male paramour. “I find the idea that she put all her energy into creating this incredible woman who is in fact this man she’s in love with, to be really extraordinary,” said Sturgis.
The end result, she said, “is a drama of recognition.”
One that speaks to Sturgis, and presumably, all modern women who juggle the simultaneous pursuit of love, career and family.
“I feel I am on a similar search Elizabeth is on, to discover the true love you have in your life,” Sturgis said.
“But I don’t believe anybody can have it all — women or men. I think you make choices and you make sacrifices according to what your priorities are in your life, and then you invest in those things that you love most.
“Thank goodness that time has gone by and yes, women now have choices. But now you have to be willing to let a lot of other things go. I’m not saying you can’t have a family and a job, of course you can. But we’re human beings, and our energy is finite. So you have to be focused on what truly rewards you.”
Spoken like a member of the Jane Austen Book Club.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“Pride and Prejudice”
Denver Center Theatre Company. Adapted by Jon Jory. Directed by Bruce K. Sevy. Starring Nisi Sturgis, Rick Stear, Larry Paulsen and Jeanne Paulsen. Through Dec. 15. 6:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 7:30 p.m. Fridays; 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays at the Stage Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex. $36-$46. 303-893-4100, 866-464-2626, 800-641-1222 outside Denver, all King Soopers or
From A (Austen) to Z (Zellweger)
Upcoming and recent films about or inspired by Jane Austen:
“The Complete Jane Austen” (2008): This massive “Masterpiece Theatre” programming initiative includes airing film adaptations of all six Austen novels and a biographical film, “Miss Austen Regrets,” beginning Jan. 13 on PBS stations. The four-month season also includes new BBC adaptations of “Sense and Sensibility” (starring Janet McTeer), “Mansfield Park,” “Northanger Abbey, and “Persuasion,” as well as the 1995 “Pride and Prejudice” BBC miniseries starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, and the 1996 film “Emma” starring Kate Beckinsale.
“Sense and Sensibilidad” (2008): Latina spin on two opposite daughters left poor by the rules of inheritance, set in contemporary Los Angeles.
“Becoming Jane” (2007): A biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) and her romance with a young Irishman.
“Jane Austen Book Club” (2007): Six Californians (including Maria Bello and Amy Brenneman), start a club to discuss the works of Austen, only to find their relationships begin to resemble 21st-century versions of her novels.
“Pride and Prejudice” (2005): This film starring Keira Knightley and Judi Dench was nominated for four Oscars.
“Bride and Prejudice” (2004): The five sisters get the Bollywood musical treatment.
“Bridget Jones’ Diary” (2001): Renee Zellweger franchise inspired by “Pride and Prejudice.”
“Mansfield Park” (1999): Frances O’Connor as poor Fanny Price, who goes to live at the estate of her aunt’s husband. Cast includes Harold Pinter and Jonny Lee Miller.
Compiled by John Moore
