Bedlam will present an off-Broadway production of Emily Breeze's Are the Bennet Girls OK?, adapted from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Playbill reported that previews begin September 14 at the West End Theatre, with opening night set for October 5. Casting and additional creative team members will be revealed at a later date. The production is staged by Bedlam artistic director Eric Tucker.
According to press notes, Breeze "frees Pride and Prejudice from bodiced language and mannerisms. She focuses the narrative on the depth, closeness, silliness, dissonance, pettiness--and fierce protectiveness--of the relationships between the Bennet women."
Breeze said, "I love writing adaptations--the idea excites and animates me--but I have been told nobody would know a play of mine was an adaptation unless I revealed what the source text was. To me, the reason to adapt is to solve a question about something that's been troubling me, especially when its characters feel very real and recognizable and true. For Pride and Prejudice, that question was always: why do we, in repeating this story, feel so comfortable consigning this woman we love and relate to, to someone who's been mean to her for a majority of the story? Why would she say yes to this fate? The only answer I could think of for myself was I would only do that for the sake of my sisters--who are the most important people in my life. Reexamining the narrative with that in mind became the motivation behind this adaptation."