Playing Pride and Prejudice

The student actors in Kansas Wesleyan's production of Pride and Prejudice are gaining the technical and acting skills they need to portray characters from a different century.

"Pride and Prejudice," adapted by playwright Jon Jory, was selected to give theater students experience in performing classical theater, said Kansas Wesleyan theater professor Richard Esvang, director of the production.

To effectively perform a play set in a different time period, student actors must learn a different style of walking, sitting, talking and even dancing, Esvang said, as well as master British accents. 

"There's a lot of elevated language, style of movement and diction," he said. "We're using the play to work on elocution."

Allison Yaple, who portrays Elizabeth Bennet, says that the technical aspects are more difficult to master than the emotions:

"You always have to remember your posture," she said. "The lines also are more difficult because of the phrasing. It takes a lot more work and study time."

For more details about the challenges students face in playing Pride and Prejudice's familiar characters, click on KWU Students Take on Austen from Salina.com.