Jane Austen is a name anyone who had an English class would recognize. Her novels were the wallpaper lining of my literary education right next to Shakespeare and Greek myths. In the last few years, her books have unfurled on the silver screen; Gweneth Paltrow sported empire waist dresses as “Emma” and Keira Knightley earned an Oscar nomination for her title role in “Pride and Prejudice.” But there’s one Austen fiction I hadn’t heard of until recently. It’s the first work penned by “England’s Jane,” and has now been put to stage by San Francisco’s Bella Union Theatre Company.
Candice M. Milan as Lady Susan, Gene Mocsy as Manwaring and Daria Hepps as Mrs. Vernon (image courtesy of Bella Union).
At age 19, Austen wrote “Lady Susan,” a tale about a beautiful and manipulative widow who’s on the hunt for financial stature. It’s also a novella written in epistolary form. Conceived as a series of letters, the action plots through correspondence between the characters. While some of Austen’s novels use this motif, only “Lady Susan” is composed entirely of, in a playwright’s eyes, monologues. Christine U’Ren, a founding member of Bella Union, adapted the play. She said that “It’s relatively simple to bring the characters of an epistolary novel such as Lady Susan to life, as the letter-writing character speaks directly for him or herself.”
After the initial staged readings, however, it became clear that the back-to-back soliloquies wouldn’t work alone. As U’Ren recalled, “The challenge [was] to flesh out the interactions between the characters.” U’Ren added Jane Austen as a peripheral character, who could be seen moving and prompting characters through the storyline. Director Gina Baleria added movement and a new theatrical device—a handwritten letter—that the actors passed about on stage.
The polished result is a fast-paced choreography (and a slow-stewing propriety) that’s well worth the $12 ticket. The cast is amazing, the dialogue witty and, even though I saw the play many times over as the rehearsal stage manager, I laughed at the jokes every time. U’Ren also helped design the costumes—gorgeous, hand-sewn and custom-tailored. Sir James’ character wears a purple velvet coat that I’ve been coveting the last few dress rehearsals. And since every seat is a good seat at the Berkeley City Club, you’ll be able to oggle his covered buttons from the audience.
Drop by the Berkeley City Club between tonight and July 26, and see if “Lady Susan” gets all she bargains for. Perhaps you’ll be able to see elements of Austen’s later characters, who similarly pranced across the page.
The details:
“Lady Susan”
Bella Union Theatre Company
July 2 – 26, 2009
BERKELEY CITY CLUB
www.brownpapertickets.com
$12
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