4 days ago
Rose Hesmondhalgh says Jane Austen's heroine was ‘was well ahead of her time'
Rosa Hesmondhalgh admits that the opportunity to come to Bolton's Octagon Theatre to play Jane Austen's heroine Elizabeth Bennet in a new production of Pride and Prejudice is 'a real gift'.
'It's such a fantastic book; one that I genuinely love,' said Rosa. 'This will be the UK premiere of this specific adaptation and it's just so exciting that we are getting to do that.
'Then, of course, you have the source material from Jane Austen herself - you get so much for free.'
Written more than 200 years ago, Pride and Prejudice remains one of the most popular novels of all time. For this new stage adaptation, there has been no temptation to re-set it or tinker with the original storyline.
Rosa Hesmondhalgh (Picture: YellowBellyPhoto)'It's a really faithful adaptation in lots of ways,' said Rosa. 'We're keeping very much to the Regency era and visually that's something really beautiful to see on stage.
'There are the period costumes and the period dancing but there is also a lot of sharp humour. It is a fresh adaptation so I really think the audience will get the best of both worlds.'
Elizabeth is one four Bennet sisters. Her mother is desperate to get her girls married off to improve the family's financial and social status. But Elizabeth is not prepared to simply go along with what society of the day expects.
'Elizabeth was definitely ahead of her time,' said Rosa. 'She's been one of my favourite literary characters for a long time.
'There's a lot of power in her despite being a woman at this time and she found different ways to wield that power such as by refusing to marry.
'She has this belief that marriage is a horrible institution, something that she's not interested in. She doesn't think about the love aspect.
'Then - spoiler alert - when she does fall in love, she suddenly sees it from perspective she's not seen before which is such fun to play.
'Also she's a real laugh; she loves to make fun of things. She's not bogged down by her surroundings at all and that can be really liberating in a period piece.'
Pride and Prejudice as a whole and the character of Elizabeth in particular caused a few ripples in Regency society when the novel was first published.
'I think Jane Austen definitely broke the mould,' said Rose. 'I do feel as though she put quite a lot of herself into Elizabeth's character.'
So does Rosa see any similarities between herself and either the character she's playing or the original author?
'I'd say it was a big complement to be compared to either of them,' she laughed. 'But one of reasons I'm so excited about this role is that I can definitely see a lot of similarities.
'The script has jokes in it that I know I'd make myself and other comments which I wish I'd written.'
Rosa has thoroughly enjoyed being part of the whole production process, bringing a new version of a classic to the stage.
'The rehearsal process has been fantastic,' she said. 'The production is so full of life and humour but also deals with the romance in such a gorgeous, sensitive way. I'm so happy to be involved.
'I always like to bring my interpretation into the room in rehearsal and we're lucky that the whole cast are all fantastic at that. It's been such a collaborative process.'
Given that Pride and Prejudice is very much about family, the casting gave Rosa a pleasant surprise.
'My most recent stage role before this was in The King's Speech at The Watermill Theatre,' she said. 'The only other female member of the cast was Aamira Challenger. We lived together during the run and became proper friends.
'When I was auditioning for Pride and Prejudice I asked her to help me with a read through and it turned out she had auditioned on the same day. We spent several weeks checking with each other and then we were both cast and would be playing sisters.'
Mention Pride and Prejudice to many people and they will immediately think of the TV adaptation which saw Colin Firth, as Mr Darcy, emerging from a lake.
So will the Octagon feature its own 'lake scene'?
'I really can't say,' laughed Rose. 'Let's just say some clean-up might be needed!'
Rosa - the niece of former Coronation Street star and award-winning actress Julie Hesmondhalgh - has starred in the Netflix blockbuster series Bridgerton and was also responsible for the one-woman show Madame Ovary based on her experience of dealing with ovarian cancer.
'I'm fine now,' she said. 'That show was very important to me as it gave me power when I felt powerless. It helped me to reclaim the narrative and gave me a lot of happy memories around a very hard time.'
Now she is looking forward to spending a few weeks in Bolton before taking Pride and Prejudice on tour to a number of theatres across the North.
'I'd never been to the Octagon until we started rehearsals,' she said. 'It's just such a lovely building and the people are equally lovely. It's so welcoming.
'I have been fortunate to see The 39 Steps at the theatre while I've been here, which I loved, and I found that so informative as to how the space works. And I got to see the amazing, faithful audience members who come to everything and who clearly love the Octagon.'
So how does she think Pride and Prejudice will go down?
'I am lover of Jane Austen,' she said, 'I think this production is a perfect mixture of being faithful to the book with some real winks to Jane Austen lovers but equally it has such a classic spine of a love story with the peaks and troughs of a good romance which any rom com lover out there will love.
'There are also other subplots and storylines. It's a timeless story about family and pressure and enemies becoming lovers. You can see why a lot of modern TV writing borrows quite a lot from Jane Austen's storytelling.
'It's just timeless and really special.'
Pride and Prejudice is at Octagon Theatre, Bolton, until Saturday June 28. Details from
