Duck Creek Players to host classic romcom 'Pride and Prejudice'
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Mar. 22—ELWOOD — Character flaws can bring people together. With Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, it had the opposite effect because of pride and prejudice.
Duck Creek Players will perform the play of the same name, based on Jane Austen's classic novel, March 23-25 at the Historic Elwood Opera House.
The story follows both characters as they navigate the expectations of their day, particularly as they pertain to class and gender.
Elizabeth's mother, Mrs. Bennet, knowing the peril of not marrying a man of substance, tries to match her daughters with eligible bachelors to no avail.
Elizabeth, the second youngest — a sassy, spunky young woman — is bent on defying such expectations and marrying a man she's in love with.
The trouble is, how does one get a man of that era to fall in love with someone like Elizabeth? That's where Mr. Darcy comes in.
Darcy, a man of great fortune and arrogance, meets Elizabeth at a dance and from that moment on, he's in love but is too proud to admit it.
Things come to a head in both the book and the play when Darcy turns to Elizabeth and says the following:
"In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you," according to a quote from SparkNotes.
Though not returned in that moment, Elizabeth later shares Darcy's feelings, and she also falls in love.
That character arc is what makes this story so great, according to Joshua Minnich, who plays Mr. Darcy.
"I love the lovely character journey that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet go on from sort of enemies to lovers and then resolving everything at the end by growing as people."
Follow Caleb Amick on Twitter @AmickCaleb. Contact him at caleb.amick@heraldbulletin.com or 765-648-4254.
