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The one thing that tends to get overlooked when we think about Pride and Prejudice is the terror. I don't mean the usual video game form of terror - there are no monsters or ninja assassins in Austen's novel (although it's a few years since I last read it, I might have forgotten those bits). I mean the terror of social failure and displacement. The fear of dishonour and disgrace - and the very real peril young women faced when they were felt to have fallen somehow short of society's standards. And sorry, but this is all good video game material.

The Regency society that Jane Austen wrote about was effectively a highly codified mechanism: a game system. Just like in a role-playing adventure, where certain "classes" of enemies can only be effectively fought after the required power-ups have been discovered, Austen's heroines faced a rigidly hierarchical environment in which every interaction was governed by status. Social engagements were arranged via calling cards, and elaborate rituals of acceptance and avoidance were developed to ensure everyone knew their place. Making friends and potential marriage partners was a question of understanding the etiquette - the game system - and playing effectively.

I can totally see Pride and Prejudice as a sort of stealth adventure in which Elizabeth must quietly learn the systems of the Meryton gentry if she is to form a relationship with Darcy. Every ball is a mission in which the lead character has to gather information and work on possible alliances. We know from the excellent Party mission in Dishonored that upper class gatherings make atmospheric and sinister game environments. We also know from sci-fi RPG series Mass Effect how in-game conversations can be used to simulate diplomatic relations, allowing the lead protagonist to charm non-player characters. It's the same thing here; ecept every ball will also have a tricky mini-game in which you have to master the elaborate steps of Regency country dances - like memorising new moves in a fighting game.

Every adventure game has a currency and many have a 'moral status' gauge where the system judges the player on their every action, good or evil. In a Pride and Prejudice title, the currency would be status and every conversation, every slight faux pas, would play into it. Address a viscount as a baron or take the wrong seat at the dinner table and your social currency plummets. Players would need to become proficient in the infrastructure of social terror, earning etiquette power-ups to survive.

The difficulty of course, is that as a woman in Regency England, Elizabeth's actions alone aren't enough. A Pride and Prejudice game would have to figure out a way of dealing with Lydia and Mrs Bennet, a pair of social smart bombs capable of randomly sabotaging any progress Elizabeth makes. Game systems are all about the player's agency in the world, they give us ultimate power over our destinies and would be considered unfair otherwise. Austen's Elizabeth discovers that Darcy has helped to engineer the marriage of Wickham and Lydia - a veritable machine of disgrace - but in a game, the player would need to be involved, tying up this loop of the plot in order to progress.

Hanging over the whole tale, of course, is Lady Catherine, a brilliant video game antagonist if ever there was one. She, like Kefka in Final Fantasy VI, is a malevolent regal presence, manipulating all, hating everything, misanthropic to the core. Like many of the best game villains, she is at the head of a family placed in jeopardy, often by a younger generation incapable of, or unwilling to, continue the dynasty (look at the messy private lives of the Resident Evil baddies). Anne is weak, Darcy is a rebel, Collins an obsequious toad. Catherine's confrontation with Elizabeth toward the end of the book is a video game boss battle, in which all the player has learned about society, interaction and self-protection must come into perfect play against the representative of an old world order. Catherine's boss battle weak spot is her family and Elizabeth's position beyond it - that's what you go for.

Pride and Prejudice: the video game - would anyone play it? There has been a rather mawkish attempt in the past; a sort of graphic adventure game entitled, Matches and Matrimony. But game demographics have changed hugely over the last five years, and so has the ambition of designers. You only need look at titles like Journey, Papo & Yo, Digital: A Love Story and All That Matters to know that, at least in the indie sector, a broader range of themes and experiences is emerging.

Of course, it's arguable whether a game based around a young woman's social mobility is even desirable in the 21st century. But Pride and Prejudice is not just about romance it is about a system of subterfuge and repression. Regency England is a Death Star of class, and the learning curve of the game would align with the learning curve of the main characters in the novel - they need to escape those two titular nouns to achieve freedom. At that point, like the end of a game, the terror is overcome. The system is beaten.
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Pride and Prejudice at 200: is it time for a video game?

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The one thing that tends to get overlooked when we think about Pride and Prejudice is the terror. I don't mean the usual video game form of terror - there are no monsters or ninja assassins in Austen's novel (although it's a few years since I last read it, I might have forgotten those bits).

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A summary of Themes in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of Pride and Prejudice and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.

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The opening line of Pride and Prejudice is one of the most famous in English literature: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." This is typical Austen, who makes thought-provoking statements tinged with humour.

In the story, Mrs Bennet is determined to see her five daughters married off. The more 'respectable' the match, the better. She despises Wickham when he runs off with Lydia, but as soon as she finds out he's marrying her, her opinion changes completely. She even remarks that it's a great achievement, as Lydia is only 16. Mrs Bennet hates Darcy - until he proposes to Elizabeth.

Miss Bingley is deliberately rude to Elizabeth because she fears (rightly) that Darcy will marry her. Lady Catherine de Bourgh is horrible to Elizabeth for the same reason. Miss Bingley even lies to Jane about her brother being engaged to someone else, as she feels the marriage would reflect badly on her family.

Mr Bennet realised many years before that his wife was completely unsuited to him, but the question of divorce would never have been raised. It was almost unheard of and would have brought shame on the family.

At the time, marriage was seen as a social contract, often without the need for love. Lady Catherine had planned for her daughter to marry Darcy for many years, despite their indifference. And Charlotte Lucas marries Mr Collins simply because he can provide her with financial security. She doesn't love him, or even respect him.

By contrast, the couplings of Jane and Bingley and Elizabeth and Darcy are sincere and heart-warming.

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The opening line of Pride and Prejudice is one of the most famous in English literature: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." This is typical Austen, who makes thought-provoking statements tinged with humour.

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PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

libero adattamento dall'opera di Jane Austen

Jane Austen nacque a Steventon nello Hampshire nel 1775 in una famiglia numerosa e culturalmente vivace. Suo padre, un pastore anglicano, seguì personalmente la sua educazione e le mise a disposizione la propria biblioteca. Tra il 1787 e il 1793 compose i Juvenilia, tre raccolte di poesie, racconti e parodie destinate al diletto di amici e familiari. Nel 1795 Jane si innamorò di Thomas Langlois Lefroy, ma a causa delle differenze sociali il matrimonio fu considerato impossibile dalla famiglia Lefroy. Dallo stesso anno la Austen iniziò a lavorare alla stesura dei suoi lavori più celebri: Pride and Prejudice e Sense and Sensibility. In linea con l'idea dell'epoca che la scrittura non fosse attività confacente a una giovane di buona famiglia, i suoi romanzi furono pubblicati anonimi o sotto pseudonimo e ottennero fin da subito un discreto successo. Nel 1816 Jane si ammalò gravemente e nel 1817 si recò a Winchester in cerca di una cura. Lì morì in quello stesso anno.

Juvenilia (raccolta in tre volumi di poesie, racconti e altri scritti, 1787-1793)

Sir Charles Grandison or the Happy Man, a Comedy in 5 Acts (1792-1800)

Lady Susan (1794-1805, pubblicato postumo)

Northanger Abbey (1803, pubblicato postumo nel 1818)

The Watsons (incompiuto, 1804)

Sense and Sensibility (1811)

Pride and Prejudice (1813)

Mansfield Park (1814)

Emma (1815)

Persuasion (1815, pubblicato postumo nel 1818)

Sanditon (incompiuto, 1817)

Mr. e Mrs. Bennet hanno cinque figlie in età da marito: la maggiore, Jane, spicca per bellezza, la secondogenita, Elizabeth, per intelligenza e ironia e le tre minori per una certa tendenza alla superficialità. Con un patrimonio vincolato alla nascita, ormai impossibile, di un erede maschio e tante figlie da accasare, lo stabilirsi lì nei pressi di un giovane facoltoso non passa inosservato a casa Bennet. Mr. Bingley si dimostra da subito interessato alla bella Jane, mentre il suo amico Mr. Darcy scatena l'antipatia e il sarcasmo di Elizabeth. Quando a casa Bennet arriva anche Mr. Collins, il cugino ed erede di tutti i beni della famiglia, gli ingredienti per l'esplosivo intreccio sentimentale sono completi. A far deflagrare la situazione è la partenza improvvisa di Mr. Bingley, al quale Mr. Darcy cerca di impedire il fidanzamento con Jane. Il corso degli eventi rivoluzionerà più volte aspettative e sentimenti dei protagonisti, portando Elizabeth ad innamorarsi di Mr. Darcy e Jane a sospirare a lungo il ritorno del suo futuro marito. Quel che è certo è che, per dirimere tutti i conflitti e arrivare al sospirato happy ending matrimoniale, i protagonisti devono veramente fare i conti con il loro orgoglio e i loro numerosi pregiudizi.

Attraverso lo sguardo pungente e ironico con cui Jane Austen mette a nudo l'animo umano, la regista Irina Sabristova ( An Ideal Husband) fa scoprire al giovane pubblico molti dei personaggi del romanzo originale: la loro profondità, la spontaneità delle loro reazioni agli eventi, i loro vizi e le loro virtù, che rispecchiano quelli dell'intera società. I dialoghi sono attraversati da un umorismo sottile e piacevole, che gli attori madrelingua amplificano attraverso una recitazione chiara ed espressiva. La scenografia, simbolica, impreziosita da veli che si muovono con il soffiare del vento e i vari ambienti sono definiti da pochi ma iconici oggetti. I costumi, disegnati e realizzati appositamente per questo spettacolo, richiamano nelle forme lo stile dell'epoca romantica e nei colori emergono le tonalità pastello in varie sfumature. La musica accompagna i personaggi ovunque, sottolineando il loro stato d'animo e le loro azioni. Il pianoforte e i violini protagonisti degli sfarzosi balli si alternano ai canti degli uccelli e al rumore della pioggia delle passeggiate sui prati, così come la spiritualità e l'emotività che regnano nelle conversazioni salottiere lasciano il posto al colore e alla natura predominanti nella silenziosa vita di campagna. Tutto si fonde sulla scena, l'uomo e la natura, per scoprire l'essenza della vita: l'amore.

Copyright © 2016 Il Palchetto Stage sas di Fava C. & C. - È vietata la riproduzione totale o parziale dei contenuti di questo sito. - Per maggiori Informazioni clicca qui

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libero adattamento dall'opera di Jane Austen Jane Austen nacque a Steventon nello Hampshire nel 1775 in una famiglia numerosa e culturalmente vivace. Suo padre, un pastore anglicano, seguì personalmente la sua educazione e le mise a disposizione la propria biblioteca.

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Trailer

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Pride & Prejudice (2005) - Official Trailer