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Jane Austen’s love life pondered

By Mike McGinley mmcginley@timesleader.com
Features Writer

The other side of Jane Austen’s bed was probably empty every night.

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Rachel Strayer and Angelina Glodzik rehearse a scene in preparation for tonight’s opening of ‘Jane Austen & Friends.’ Strayer plays Jane Austen, a woman who is seeking but never finds true love, while Glodzik portrays her alter ego, a more modern Jane who can be seen only by Strayer’s character.

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The famous novelist, who died in 1817 at age 41, never experienced the joy of marriage or the satisfaction of having children.

“It’s ironic because that’s all she wrote about,” said Stephen Pastore, a writer from Waverly whose play “Jane Austen and Friends” opens tonight in Olyphant.

“The theme in all of her novels is you cannot judge a book by its cover or a man by his looks,” he said. “Ultimately, you’ll find your true soul mate.”

But Jane Austen never did.

The performance is based on a two-day time span in which she accepted a marriage proposal from Harris Bigg-Wither, a family friend, who offered wealth and prominence to the Austen family.

After prodding from family members eager to milk the Bigg-Wither fortune, Austen agreed to marry the heir.

The engagement didn’t last long. Jane quickly re-evaluated what the marriage would do to her as an independent woman and writer. The day after she agreed to the engagement, she realized she’d made a grave mistake and called it off.

In the play, she listens to English novelists Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf come from the future to beg her not to marry.

The writers respect Jane as the first serious novelist to dive into psychological issues, Pastore said.

“The other novels being written (at that time) were like chick flicks,” he said.

While the play is centered on one specific instance, it details her entire life as she spends time talking to herself, her family and her alter ego.

“Jane Austen is just a very, very popular figure,” Pastore explained. “There is a huge interest in her, but no one really knows much about her life.”

Pastore, who frequently writes biographies and novels, spent three months and used three and a half spiral notebooks (he prefers handwriting to typing) to write the play, which stars Rachel Strayer and Angelina Glodzik as Jane (yes, there are two) and is directed by Lou Bisignani.

The two Janes, Pastore said, are necessary because one is the Jane of 1802 and the other is a more modern Jane who can be seen only the by the Jane of 1802 and whispers advice to her as she contemplates her future.

“Ultimately, the play is about the fact that she sacrificed herself for her art,” Pastore said.

“It sort of has a tragic element,” he said.

Had she married Bigg-Wither, she may have stopped writing.

“Without her, all of English literature and America by extension would be different today,” he said.

If you go

What: “Jane Austen & Friends”

Where: the New American Vic, 411 Studio, Lackawanna Avenue, Olyphant

When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, tonight through Oct. 26.

Cost: $10