In the last week of March, the Scarsdale Drama club staged their much-awaited play, Pride and Prejudice. With performances running on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the play featured engaging student performances, who took on their respective roles with great emotional range and authenticity.
As the play commenced in the Little Theater, audiences were introduced to Mrs. Bennet, an elderly woman and mother to five daughters. Drawing from England’s historical Georgian era, Zoe Greenberg ‘25 engaged the audience with her natural British accent, which was delivered in a delicate manner, resembling an old woman.
The fluidity of her dialogue was further complemented by her sense of humor and unpredictability as she depicted a mother desperate to marry off her children to wealthy men. Throughout the play, her interactions with other characters were characterized by exaggerated motions and abrupt changes in emotion that prompted bursts of laughter in the audience.
Far into the first act, audiences were then introduced to Mr. Collins, the cousin bound to inherit the Bennet household after the death of Mr. Bennet. Although the majority of characters were positively depicted, Derrick Kuo ‘26, who played Collins, had to act as an awkward clergyman, at least according to the Bennet family. Kuo spoke with an authentic scratchy, muffled voice, while acting obnoxiously. His authentic channeling of his unpleasant character entertained the audience.
As the plot reached its climax in its second act, the play spotlighted the star of the show, Mr. Darcy, whose arrogance and bias caused a string of misunderstandings with Mrs. Bennet’s daughter Lizzy Bennet. Played by Louis Basso ’25, Mr. Darcy’s contrasting seriousness in the first act and warmth in the second one captivated and drew the audience into the moral arc and final romance of the play, in which Mr. Darcy was finally able to overcome his pride, and Lizzy her prejudice.
While the cast had to navigate a smaller prop area and a different backstage in the Little Theater, the actors continued to shine. The captivating production served as the proper last dances for four talented seniors, as well as the debuts for many of the new members of the drama club.