Entertainment

By Mary Therese Biebel mbiebel@timesleader.com
Features Writer
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In her play “Lizzy, Darcy and Jane,” British writer Joanna Norland puts an intriguing twist on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.”

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Christina Mattatics will portray Elizabeth Bennett in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ at the Vintage Theater in Scranton.

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If you go

 

What: “Pride and Prejudice,” a staged reading

When: Nov. 6-15 with shows at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays.

Where: Vintage Theater, 119 Penn Ave., Scranton

Other attractions: An in-house cafe opens at that location at 3 p.m. Nov. 6

Tickets: $8 adults, $5 students, seniors

Reservations: 344-6344 or www.scrantonsvintagetheater.com

Austen, in Norland’s version, has been disappointed in love in her own life. So, she takes it out on Elizabeth Bennett, trying to sentence the character to marriage with the insufferable Mr. Collins.

(You remember him. He’s that conceited cousin of the Bennett family who, thanks to sexist Victorian inheritance laws, stands to inherit Elizabeth’s family homestead when her father dies. In what he considers a great burst of generosity, Collins offers to marry one of the Bennett daughters.)

In Norland’s play, character Elizabeth puts up a fight with author Jane, because she wants to marry the dashing Darcy.

Local audiences can get a taste of Norland’s work Nov. 6-13 at the Vintage Theater in Scranton. It won’t be “Lizzy, Darcy and Jane” but a 45-minute staged reading of “Pride and Prejudice” itself.

This version sticks pretty much to the story Austen created. Here the proud Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth misunderstand each other again and again until they end up blissfully together.

“It’s much condensed, but nothing has been added,” said actor Conor O’Brien, who portrays Mr. Collins as well as Mr. Bingley, the best friend of Mr. Darcy.

Describing himself as “a huge fan of the original,” O’Brien said the faithful adaptation retains “all the wit and humor of Jane Austen’s classic novel,” while forgoing a lavish setting and costumes.

The pace is quick, thanks in part to nine actors playing 16 roles, he said. “All the changes give it a lot of energy and movement.”

This presentation is the world-premiere of the adaptation, O’Brien said. “I was on the Internet, reading national theater message boards, when I stumbled across a post from Joanna Norland that she was looking for someone to premiere this.”

Opening night on Nov. 6 also marks the debut of The Vintage Theater’s Caf�, which will serve coffee, tea, espresso and “everything you’d expect at a coffee shop.”

The show will be presented in the Vintage Theater, 119 Penn Ave., Scranton, in cooperation with the arts-supporting organization Scranton Rhythm.