Interview: Kate Hamill's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY Puts a Contemporary Spin on a Classic Story

On September 13th, Folger Theatre kicked off their 2016/2017 season with the DC premiere of Kate Hamill's critically acclaimed stage adaptation of Jane Austen's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, directed by Eric Tucker, Artistic Director of Bedlam Theater in New York and the Wall Street Journal Director of the Year (2014). The production, already extended a few times Off-Broadway at Bedlam, takes a refreshing look at the 200-year old Austen favorite through whimsical staging and an emphasis on humor. Both director Eric Tucker and choreographer Alexandra Beller graciously took time out of their busy schedules to answer some questions about their experiences with SENSE AND SENSIBILITY and what audiences can expect from the production.

Here's the exchange with Mr. Tucker:

Could you tell me a little about the production and what makes it so fun?

"I think in general it's not a kind of slow-moving, BBC-style period piece. It's a faster-moving, rollicking kind of storytelling. I think [what] makes it fun from the script point of view is that it isn't trying to be the novel, all heavy with narration. Kate [Hamill] was really good about [that]. It's funny all the way through...and it's a little eccentric. Everything is on wheels, so the set is always moving and...it keeps the story pushing forward. You get all the stuff that [Jane Austen enthusiasts] think you have to have from the story and the book. We've heard from many non-Jane Austen [enthusiasts] who have come to the show and [they] love it. So whether you love Jane Austen or you don't know anything about Jane Austen, it's proven to be entertaining."

There have been other adaptations of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, so what was your vision for this production and how is it different from other adaptations?

"It's not reverent to that original material. It's a little wacky at times. Someone wrote about it in New York and said that it was...very much Austen and almost Dickensian in the way we presented it. There is something kind of eccentric and wacky about the way we tell a story that I think people respond to. [Many] Austen adaptations are usually three hours long. This one clocks in at just over two [hours], not including the intermission. I think the key is that Kate [Hamill] is a great writer in that the script isn't much her as it is Austen. [Hamill] gets what's funny about that book and she gets all the humor in there. All the stuff people love about Jane Austen and those relationships, it's all in there."

There's a big emphasis on choreography and movement in this production, could you tell me a little more about that?

"When I first started working on the show, my concept was that everything would roll. So I have windows, doors, tables, [and] chairs...on wheels...it's very bare...very minimal. The play has so many different locations. You'll have ten lines, and they're in [a] drawing room, and another few lines, and they're outside in the park. If you were trying to set up all of those locations, it would take forever. I had used some rolling furniture in some other period pieces that I directed, and...I liked that it gave [the pieces] just a bit of a contemporary spin. There's just something about it that I liked in terms of the aesthetic. The flow of the text [is] uninterrupted, even as stuff is still moving into place or being tossed around. The play constantly morphs and flows...with so much ease. That was sort of my big idea about how to tell the story. [The play] is very actor-driven, so [an actor] might not be in a scene but [they're] moving in a window or sliding [in] a chair or [sliding in] someone on a chair. For example, Lucy Steele and Elinor [Dashwood] are having a big scene at the end of Act 1, and I staged it so that they are actually sitting in chairs but the chairs are moving as they're talking. It's something we experimented with in rehearsal, whether it was just them on their feet or not, where the windows go, [where] the doors [go], and I just staged it [with that movement]. There's dance in the piece..it is very movement-heavy. It's not something you necessarily expect in a period piece."

You have a pretty vast experience with directing and you've been pretty successful. Is this production different from what you've ever done before or is it similar?

"It's similar. I did a couple of period plays where I put the furniture on wheels. I just had never done it to the extent where every piece of furniture was on wheels. I think what people sort of say about my work is that...it can be very different but you still see some sort of a common denominator or style to it. I think all of my work is very actor-driven, it's sometimes athletic in a way. The actors, even if they think they're not going to be on stage very much, they end up being on stage [a good amount of time]. I like the storytelling to be simple and depend on the people on stage and not on special effects or projections. This [production] is like that. It's very minimal, there aren't a lot of props. We don't get bogged down in the props, we just set up a scene, and there's humor in that as well."

How is the production more accessible to the audience of today?

"I think [it's more accessible because] it doesn't hand everything to them. You come and...use your imagination. It's not like watching the densest text, it's fairly light fare, it's fun, it's romantic and funny and often silly. People leave, at least [from the production] in New York, feeling really satisfied that they had a fun time and they come back quite often and bring their friends. Jane Austen's stories...[have] these amazing endings...you look around the audience and you see people crying because it's so romantic, and people love that. I think what helps make it more accessible, is that [even though] it's a period piece...it feels very contemporary. I think having everything rolling and moving gives it a contemporary feel. It's a spin on it that...people can hook into, it's a lot of fun to watch, and it doesn't feel stodgy."

Is there anything else about the production you would like to mention?

"I hope audiences are just going to...know it's a fun time and it's a nice story."

Here's the exchange with Ms. Beller:

Could you tell me a little more about this production including the choreography and movement?

"The whole show is highly choreographed. Eric and I certainly collaborate and he does a lot of the stage movement but there are a bunch of actual bonafide dances. There's a lot of places where the scenes flip into either memory or fantasy, where the movement gets either metaphorical or the movement is kind of serving to crack open the character's internal life for the audience [and] let it spill out a little bit onto the stage; those sequences are also under my attention."

Where did the choice to place such a big emphasis on choreography and movement come from?

"Movement and embodiment is not separate for Eric and any other part of creating the meaning of a play. I don't know [if] he expected that we would have quite the rapport that we do when we first started working together...on another play. We clearly, however, had an easy and similar way of approaching the stage experience. He gave me a lot of trust right away so I think in playing with things we both discovered that there was a lot to mind there physically and once he decided to put everything on wheels, everything was up for grabs, which was awesome."

You have really extensive experience in choreography, you were even nominated for the Lortel Award for your choreography for this production [in New York], what was your vision coming into this production?

"It's an interesting thing coming form the dance world and starting to collaborate on theater because in a lot of ways it's not my vision anymore. I'm transitioning into this new mode of operating where there's a director and it's their vision and I'm really there to help facilitate it as best I can. In a way I feel like I'm working more in the details of enacting a vision than I am in the generating of it. Certainly with Eric who's got such a fantastic imagination, the details are not boring. The details require massive creative input from me but I do feel like the larger vision for the piece lies with him. It's really a very large canvas that he gives me to play on but ultimately... [the] original set of instructions was the vision and then how I choose to work with that...comes a lot from the script,...the bodies that are in front of me, and the room. I feel like the ingredients are already in the room, which is unusual and really interesting for me."

How is this [production] different or similar to your past choreography experience? What kind of style do you usually teach in and is that reflected in your choreography in this production?

"What makes me right for this kind of work with Eric is that I don't feel like I have ever gotten defined by one particular style of moving. Movement for me always serves to function a greater human narrative. Certainly when I teach technique class to professional dancers I have something of a style. I don't use that at all here because...that's not right for this show, but I will say that even my shows in the past have all had very different styles and movement qualities because movement for me is always to an end and hopefully every piece has a different end. So for this one, there's definitely a really big sense of playing with weight,...there's a lot of grounded-ness but then there's also this carriage that's holding oneself up above something that comes from Jane Austen. So I was playing a lot with verticality...with climbing things, falling, and crouching down; I do feel like that sense of strong and light has come into play a lot in the making of the material."

How do you think this production is more accessible to the audience of today?

"A novel is a very open playing field and you can choose to shine the light in any direction. I think we've chosen to shine the light on the humor a lot. Also the way...we approach time, which feels much more cinematic then stayed, is very fresh and has a lot of flow. The production...takes you with it, you are not required to climb up after the text as you sometimes are in older productions where the text doesn't open any doors for you...I think the staging [here] opens so many doors literally that you really don't have any choice but to go along for the ride. So I wouldn't even say it's accessible as much as it takes you with it."

Anything else about the production you would like to mention?

"It's been really gratifying and exciting to have to crack [the production] back open again for a completely new space. When you build something for a particular location, especially the theater we have in NY, it feels very site-specific, and a lot of your ideas of meaning and relationship are inherently built into the way you stage it. We're in this runway/alley-way [theater set-up] in New York where there's audience along two sides and [Folger Theatre] is this beautiful, classic proscenium stage. I feel like [Eric and I] both found things that wouldn't work in New York that worked [at Folger]. [Also,] this cast is a whole different set of humans that bring their own ideas, their own humor, their own aptitude, and skills to it and it's been so delightful to work [with a fresh look] at something you feel like you know so well."

Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, including an intermission.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY is now playing at Folger Theatre at the Folger Shakespeare Library - 201 E. Capitol St. SE in Washington, DC - until October 30th. Tickets can be purchased online, by stopping at the box office located in the theater lobby at the Third Street entrance of the building, or by calling the box office at (202) 544-7077.

Photo Credit: Peter Eramo

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