With piles of petticoats and a flurry of British accents, Broken Box’s Pride and Prejudice will bring the classic Jane Austen novel to life from Thursday, November 7 through Saturday, November 9.
“They needed to learn British accents,” Broken Box teacher Lisa Battle said. “They had to learn how to walk and talk in 19th-century garb. There are layers of practicing and layers of creating this piece. It’s challenging.”
Putting on a show isn’t just memorizing lines — in fact, the schedule is so packed that it isn’t part of the agenda. Instead, it’s a constant collaboration between stage management, props, sound, costumes, and acting — from juggling moving pieces onstage to understanding characters in depth.
Stage management needs to know every cue for lights and sound, while technical designers must be aware of the scene and read the space.
“We’ve been working on this since the end of summer,” assistant technical director senior Nathan Coleman said. “We normally spend around three or four months working on each show. It’s just a lot of coordination and flexibility, having a plan and adapting.”
Actors have to constantly annotate and analyze their characters, and the publicity manager has to stay on top of advertisements for the show. Actors have to understand the nuances of 19th-century society and embrace period rehearsal garments — all in the span of a few months.
The rehearsals, though difficult, help actors grow their skills quickly.
“It’s really challenging to know how to react to different situations as an actor, because there’s so many different details we have to account for,” junior Sam Galli, who plays Mr. Bingley said.
It was the students who decided to perform Pride and Prejudice, despite the show’s complex nature. Actors and tech members voted for the production during their class final last year after having expressed long-term interest in the piece.
“I was like, guys, you realize people have to be in love on stage?” Battle said. “And they’re like, ‘yeah, we got this.’”
At the start of every production, Battle presents a vision board for the play. Broken Box then works around her interpretation to create a show true to what Battle envisioned. For this show, Battle’s goal is to create a show that makes the audience feel like they are opening up and reading the book.
“The set design that we’re doing is very storybook-esque,” junior Kira Polen, who plays Elizabeth Bennet, said. “We want the audience to feel like they’re reading through a book, so we are doing all period costumes. There are a lot of details in the clothing and voices and set, and all these elements lead to perfection and really immerses the audience.”
Even during rehearsals, actors wear character shoes, suit jackets, and skirts to help them get into their roles.
“Staying in character means holding yourself in a different way, walking in a different way, and using different mannerisms,” Sam said. “It may not seem like a lot, but it’s the little things like the accent and the posture that brings the audience into the story.”
Although other shows have creative liberty, for Pride and Prejudice, Broken Box sticks with the original story. Even tech kept the storybook vision, painting furniture to mimic the look of simple line drawings of novels, and using newspapers to frame the stage. To stay authentic, students tackled the dense book with textual analysis, historical research, and tons of annotations and notes.
“I rewatched the movie and watched part of the 1995 TV series,” Kira said. “I read the script many times, annotated everything, and constantly tried to think about how Elizabeth Bennet would react to every scenario, and how her personality and values shapes her reactions.”
Junior Reid Taylor, who plays Mr. Darcy, also watched the 2005 movie adaptation. To understand the character better, he researched everything he could about the time period from mannerisms, to posture and body language, to the shoes and suits people wore.
The play details the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet, daughter of a poor member of the gentry, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a wealthy member of the aristocracy. Their actors had different approaches to their characters.
“There are a lot of interpretations of Darcy, but they portray him as very stern,” Reid said. “I kind of wanted to add more emotion to him, because I think it works well as a character, and resonates with the audience.”
“Elizabeth is very sassy, and she’s the narrator so I get a lot of asides to the audience,” Kira said. “She’s super witty, smart, and intelligent, and she’s not afraid to stand up for what’s right. I see myself in her, which makes it easier to play her.”
With opening night approaching, Broken Box students are preparing for their last week of rehearsals, putting the past three months’ work together. It’s a stressful time and the pressure is high, but it’s when all the effort pays off.
“If you’re into old fashioned stories or any sort of soap operas this show is definitely for you,” Sam said. “And even if you’re not, it has so many elements that you’ll find interesting.”
As Kira puts it, “Brat Summer is over, it’s time for Pride and Prejudice Fall.”
To see Pride and Prejudice on stage, buy tickets online or on-site at 7 p.m. on Thursday, November 7 to Saturday, November 9, at the LAHS Eagle Theatre.
