TheatreWorks S I L I C O N V A L L E Y
Jane Austen’s
Emma
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Table of Contents For Teachers and Students • For Teachers: Using this Study Guide 4 • For Students: The Role of the Audience 5
Exploring the Play • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Jane Austen 6 Emma Plot Summary 7 Meet the Main Characters 8 Austen in Modern Pop Culture 9 Not “Just a Chick Flick” 10 About the Play and Playwright 11 Adapting a Story 12 Building a Story 13 Writing Your Own Adaptation 14 English Life in the 1800s 15 The Status of Women in the 1800s 16 Social Hierarchies in the 1800s 17 Social Hierarchies Today 18 After the Play: Exploring Themes 19 After the Play: Discussion Questions 20
Resources • STUDENT/Student Matinee Evaluation • TEACHER/Student Matinee Evaluation
Portrait of Jane Austen, painted by her sister Cassandra.
For Teachers Student matinee performances of Jane Austen’s Emma will be held on December 10 & 15, 2015 at 11:00 am, at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto. The expected runtime is approximatly 2 hours and 30 minutes, with a 15 minute intermssion. The performance will be followed by a discussion with actors from the show. Student audiences are often the most rewarding and demanding audiences that an acting ensemble can face. Since we hope every show at TheatreWorks will be a positive experience for both audience and cast, we ask you to familiarize your students with the theatre etiquette described on the following page.
How to use this Study Guide This guide is arranged in worksheets. Each worksheet or reading may be used independently or in conjunction with others to serve your educational goals. Together, the worksheets prepare students for the workshops, as well as seeing the student matinee of Jane Austen’s Emma produced by TheatreWorks, and for discussing the performance afterwards.
Throughout the guide you will see several symbols:
Means “Photocopy Me!” Pages with this symbol are meant to be photocopied and handed directly to students.
Means “English Language Arts.” Pages with this symbol feature lessons that are catered to California State English Language Arts standards.
Means “Theatre Arts.” Pages with this symbol feature lessons that are catered to California State Theatre Arts standards.
Means “Social Studies.” Pages with this symbol feature lessons that are catered to California State Social Studies standards.
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The Role of the Audience All the work that goes into a production would mean nothing if there wasn’t an audience for whom to perform. As the audience, you are also a part of the production, helping the actors onstage tell the story. When the performance is about to begin, the lights will dim. This is a signal for the actors and the audience to put aside concerns and conversation and settle into the world of the play. The performers expect the audience’s full attention and focus. Performance is a time to think inwardly, not a time to share your thoughts aloud. Talking to neighbors (even in whispers) carries easily to others in the audience and to the actors on stage. It is disruptive and distracting. Food is not allowed in the theatre. Soda, candy, and other snacks are noisy and therefore distracting. Please keep these items on the bus or throw them away before you enter the audience area. Backpacks are also not allowed in the theatre. Walking through the aisles during the performance is extremely disruptive. Actors occasionally use aisles and stairways as exits and entrances. The actors will notice any movement in the performance space. Please use the restroom and take care of all other concerns outside before the show. Cell phones and other electronic devices must be turned off before the performance begins. Do not text during the performance, as it is distracting to the audience members around you.
What to bring with you: Introspection Curiosity Questions Respect An open mind What to leave behind: Judgments Cell phones, etc. Backpacks Food Attitude
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Jane Austen On December 16, 1775, Jane Austen was born to George and Cassandra Austen, the seventh of eight children. The family was part of the lower echelon of the landed gentry, residing in Steventon, Hampshire, where George Austen was rector. To supplement their income, George also farmed and tutored. While she was growing up, Austen’s family valued creativity and learning. Though she spent some time at boarding school studying French, music, and dancing, the majority of Austen’s education came from reading from her father’s vast library. She was encouraged to read, write, and draw, and the family frequently staged plays in their home. It was in this nurturing environment that one of England’s greatest literary minds was formed. By the age of twelve, Austen began filling volumes with poems and fiction. She tried out various forms, parodying popular literature in her original stories and poems. These works would be published under the title Juvenilia years after her death. In 1795, Austen completed Lady Susan, a short epistolary novel which marked a turning point in her writing. She then began work on her first full-length novel, Elinor and Marianne. Though little is known of her personal life, her letters indicate that a relationship bloomed between Austen and Thomas Lefroy in December, 1795. Lefroy was the nephew of a neighbor, who relied on external financial support while he studied. Lefroy's family took note of the flirtation and sent him away, as Austen’s financial prospects weren’t any better than his. The two were kept apart for the remainder of their lives. The period that followed was a productive one. The first draft of her second novel, which she called First Impressions, was completed by 1799. She also revised Elinor and Marianne, and drafted a third novel titled Susan. In 1800, George Austen surprised everyone by retiring and moving the family to Bath. Jane did not welcome the change, as it meant leaving the only home she’d ever known. She wrote little—making a few revisions to Susan, starting and then abandoning another novel. In 1802 Austen received a marriage proposal from Harris Big-Wither, the brother of an old friend. The match would have secured her family’s future, and for that reason she accepted. The next day, however, she recanted.
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It seems she simply felt no affection for the man. Austen’s father fell ill, and died January 21, 1805. This threw the family into turmoil— the Austen women were now entirely dependent on Jane’s brothers to support them. For four years they lived an unsettled life, moving frequently until 1809 when Jane’s brother Edward, who had been adopted by wealthy cousins, offered them a cottage in Chawton village. In this setting, Austen was finally able to return to her writing. In 1811, with the help of her brother Henry, Austen found a publisher for Elinor and Marianne, retitled Sense and Sensibility. The novel was printed anonymously—the title page indicated only that it was penned by “a lady.” Popular with readers and critics, it was followed in 1813 by the publication of First Impressions, now called Pride and Prejudice. With the public hungry for more works by the anonymous “lady,” Mansfield Park was printed in 1814. Sales of Austen’s works were so strong, she moved to a larger publishing house. Emma was published in 1815, and Mansfield Park received a second printing soon after. Though Emma did well, sales of Mansfield Park’s reprint did not. Financial problems in the family prevented publication of her next novel, The Elliots. In 1816, Austen’s health began to decline. She continued to work for some time, revising The Elliots and beginning another novel, but by the spring of 1817 she was confined to a bed, and in May she travelled to Winchester for medical treatment. She died there on July 18, 1817, and is buried in Winchester Cathedral. After her death, Austen’s family arranged to have her remaining unpublished works printed. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, formerly known as Susan and The Elliots, respectively, were published as a set collection, along with a biographical note finally identifying Austen as the author.
Emma Plot Summary The musical Emma is an adaptation by Paul Gordon of the novel of the same name, written in 1816 by acclaimed English novelist Jane Austen. The play opens at the wedding of Miss Taylor (Emma’s former governess) and Mr. Weston. Emma credits herself with having made the match. Though Emma delights in her talent at uniting couples, she declares herself immune to romance and swears she’ll never marry. Mr. Knightly, Emma’s brother-in-law, seems to be the only person unconvinced by Emma’s talents, and fears that her good intentions may do harm. Having lost her governess, Emma befriends a pretty young girl named Harriet Smith. Though Harriet has no idea who her parents are (and thus, which social class she truly belongs to) Emma prefers to believe that Harriet’s mysterious past is an advantage; for all they know Harriet could be royalty. Emma is consumed by the idea of matching Harriet with Mr. Elton, the young vicar, despite the fact that Harriet has already received a proposal from her friend Mr. Martin.
Because the Woodhouse family belongs to the highest social class, Harriet trusts Emma’s advice blindly. Harriet allows herself to be persuaded to reject Mr. Martin’s proposal, and instead attempts to make herself favorable to Mr. Elton. The plan backfires when Mr. Elton reveals his true feelings—for Emma! Harriet is devastated, Elton is offended, and Emma is confounded by her utter misunderstanding of the situation. Meanwhile, Emma has learned that Mr. Frank Churchill, one of very few available men suited to her social class, will be arriving in town shortly. Despite her earlier declarations against matrimony, Emma convinces herself that perhaps she could make an exception for Mr. Churchill. Shortly after meeting him, however, Emma’s affections cool and she decides (once again) that she has found the right man for Harriet. Emma continues to misread the situations at hand, causing social blunders and hurt feelings. Eventually, Emma is forced to question her ability at matchmaking, and her motives for attempting it. It isn’t until she gives up on everyone else’s love lives that Emma starts to pay attention to her own, and proper matches evolve naturally.
TheatreWorks’ world premiere cast of Emma, 2007 / Photo David Allen
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Meet the Main Characters Emma Woodhouse is twenty years old, and described in the novel as “handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition.” She believes she is a good matchmaker, but is utterly uninterested in romance herself. Mr. Woodhouse is Emma’s devoted father. He hopes Emma will never marry so he will never be left alone. Mr. Knightly is Emma’s brother-in-law. He is in his late thirties, and is a close friend of the Woodhouses. Harriet Smith is a pretty but unrefined orphan girl of seventeen befriended by Emma. She becomes the center of Emma’s matchmaking schemes. Mr. Elton is a young vicar. He is the first in a series of men Emma hopes to unite with Harriet. Robert Martin is a twenty-four year old farmer. Harriet Smith is a close friend of the Martin family, and Robert hopes to marry Harriet. Miss Bates is a middle-aged spinster and friend of Mr. Woodhouse. She is the aunt of Jane Fairfax.
Frank Churchill is the son of Mr. Weston, though he lives with his aunt and uncle and therefore does not reside in the same community as Emma. His reputation and social standing lead Emma to believe he will make a great match for her, though when the story begins she has never met him. Mrs. Elton is Mr. Elton’s wife. She is fairly attractive, somewhat accomplished, and has a bit of wealth, but her vanity and superficial nature offend others. Mr. Weston is a widower with one son, Frank Churchill. At the opening of the story, he marries Emma’s former governess. Mrs. Weston had been Emma’s governess, before she married Mr. Weston. She is Frank Churchill’s stepmother.
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Renderings by costume designer Fumiko Bielefeldt
Jane Fairfax is Emma’s rival, as both women are young and matched in accomplishment. Jane, however, is not as wealthy as Emma, and as such may have to seek employment as a governess.
Austen in Modern Pop Culture Though Jane Austen’s novels have been popular since the Regency era, modern fascination with Jane Austen resurged in 1995. That was the year the BBC’s wildly popular adaption of Pride and Prejudice was broadcast, starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, followed by the premiere of Emma Thompson’s Academy Award-winning film adaption of Sense and Sensibility, starring Thompson, Kate Winslet, and Hugh Grant. 1995 also saw the release of a young, contemporary retelling of Austen’s Emma set in Beverly Hills: Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone. The next decade brought more star-studded adaptations, including Gwyneth Paltrow’s 1996 Emma and Keira Knightley’s 2005 Pride and Prejudice.
Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Program in 2013, and marked a new format through which Austen fans could live out their love for Austen’s world.
The most recent developments in the Austen fandom have been original stories inspired by the worlds of her works, such as the novels Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Death Comes to Pemberly, and Longbourn; and the viral video series “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.” In these works, contemporary authors tell stories that extend or twist the characters, places, and events film, d oo w ly that Austen created. ul Hol Emma. e successf lar novel, ment for th en’s popu Advertise Jane Aust Longbourn, for on d se ba Clueless, example, recounts Pride and Prejudice through the eyes of the domestic staff of the Bennet household, providing a wholly fresh perspective on the now very familiar tale of the Bennet sisters. Death Comes to Pemberly starts with Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy six years after their marriage and quickly develops into a murder mystery, weaving a deadly new plot using Austen’s characters as a framework.
Janeites have gatherings for balls and socials, where they can mix and mingle according to the strict rules of Regency modesty, but the largest gathering happens one weekend a year at the Annual General Meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America, or JASNA. The weekend features speakers, events, workshops, and presentations of literary research all related to Jane Austen. This next year the General Meeting will be held in Washington, DC—the theme is Emma at 200: “No One But Herself.”
“The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” goes further in the realm of vicariously living in Austen’s world. It is a series of video blogs, social media posts, and websites that imagine the story of Lizzie Bennet as a modern 24 year-old communications graduate student. The multiplatform format encouraged viewer participation, as viewers could tweet at characters to give them moral support, or make posts on Facebook that might get incorporated in the next installment of the series. The series won an
The most active admirers of Jane Austen and her works have earned their own title—“Janeites.” The term was originally coined by a 19th century academic to refer to his own literary appreciation of Austen. It is used nowadays to refer to a less academic and more theatrical Austen hyper-fan: one who sews her own Regency tea gowns, sings light art songs accompanied by the pianoforte, and writes her close acquaintances letters in Regency-style language.
The strange and devoted world of Janeites has become the basis for yet other movies (Lost in Austen, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Austenland ) and has been the subject of study by sociologists. Critics of modern Janeites accuse them of having fallen in love with a fantasy version of the Regency world in which Austen’s books are set, and of not understanding how Austen’s characters are themselves frustrated by that world. They assert that Janeites are using their fandom as an outlet for their desire to return to a simpler, more rigidly structured, more formalized time. Whatever critics may say, the popularity and social organization of Janeites seems to indicate that they will be around to celebrate Emma’s birthday for many more years to come.
“Two hundred years after [Austen’s] novels were written, she’s ascended to that level where her work is widely imitated, flippantly quoted, frequently ripped off, and, yes, very much revered.” The Washington Post
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Not “Just a Chick Flick” Read the following excerpt from Gloria Steinem’s article, titled “A Modest Proposal,” and be prepared to discuss your answers to the questions below. To the Young Man on the Plane from Los Angeles to Seattle Who Said of the Movie That Most Passengers—Male and Female—Voted to Watch, "I don't watch chick flicks!" So what exactly is a "chick flick?" I think you and I could probably agree that it has more dialogue than special effects, more relationships than violence, and relies for its suspense on how people live instead of how they die. I'm not challenging your choice; I'm just questioning the term that encourages it. After all, if you think back to your school days, much of what you were assigned as great literature could have been dismissed as "chick lit." Indeed, the books you read probably only survived because they were written by famous guys. Think about it: If Anna Karenina had been written by Leah Tolstoy, or The Scarlet Letter by Nancy Hawthorne, or Madame Bovary by Greta Flaubert, or A Doll's House by Henrietta Ibsen, or The Glass Menagerie by (a female) Tennessee Williams, would they have been hailed as universal? Suppose Shakespeare had really been The Dark Lady some people supposed. I bet most of her plays and all of her sonnets would have been dismissed as some Elizabethan version of ye olde "chick lit," only to be resurrected centuries later by stubborn feminist scholars. Indeed, as long as men are taken seriously when they write about the female half of the world—and women aren't taken seriously when writing about themselves much less about men or male affairs—the list of Great Authors will be more about power than about talent.”
Gloria Steinem is one of the most influential and inspirational women of our time. In the 1960s, Steinem became an activist and spokesperson for the feminist movement and has had active roles in many feminist organizations. In 1971, she founded Ms Magazine, a popular magazine with a feminist viewpoint. She was a co-convener of the National Women’s Political Caucus and she helped establish the Women’s Action Alliance, a group opposed to social and economic discrimination. She is a founding member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and in 1972 she helped found the Ms. Foundation for Women, an organization dedicated to assisting underprivileged women. In addition to being an activist, Steinem is also an accomplished writer. She has published several books, and has written for New York Magazine, a weekly she helped found in 1968.
Questions to Consider What is Steinem’s objection to the term “chick flick?” What do Anna Karenina, The Scarlet Letter, Madame Bovary, and the other novels and plays mentioned in the fourth paragraph have in common? What does Steinem mean when she says “The list of Great Authors will be more about power than about talent?” How does Jane Austen’s recent popularity affect that list? In your opinion, are female authors given the respect that their male counterparts receive?
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About the Play and Playwright TheatreWorks audiences first became acquainted with composer Paul Gordon’s work when we produced Jane Eyre in 2003, following its seven-month run on Broadway. With music and lyrics by Gordon and book by John Caird, the Broadway production garnered five Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. TheatreWorks’ production was a much-acclaimed hit, and established what would become a very special relationship between Gordon and the TheatreWorks community. Following Jane Eyre, Gordon turned his attention to Jane Austen’s Emma, a novel he’d long dreamt of musicalizing. Though he was wary of becoming known as “the guy who took 19th century novels with a woman’s name in the title and turned them into musicals,” he took the plunge and started writing, this time writing both the music and the book. Emma first graced TheatreWorks’ stage during the New Works Festival in 2006, directed by Artistic Director Robert Kelley. Even in its infancy the show proved a promising contender for a mainstage production. Later that year Gordon presented a 45-minute version at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre Festival in New York, and in January 2007 he continued honing the script at TheatreWorks’ annual Writer’s Retreat. In February, TheatreWorks announced that Emma would be part of the next mainstage season. As Gordon continued revising the script, TheatreWorks assembled an incredible team of designers, actors, musicians, and technicians to bring the show to life under Kelley’s direction. TheatreWorks’ world premiere production opened in August 2007, marking the company’s 50th world premiere. It was a momentous occasion, made all the better by the fact that the show was TheatreWorks born and bred. Emma was all anyone could have hoped for, and became one of the biggest hits in TheatreWorks history. It smashed box office records, and drew more patrons than any previous production. Word of Emma’s success spread fast, and soon Bay Area audiences weren’t the only ones humming Gordon’s tunes. In 2008, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Repertory Theatre of St. Louis co-produced the show,
directed by Kelley with TheatreWorks’ original leading actors. Subsequent productions at the Old Globe in San Diego in 2011, and Arizona Theatre Company in 2012 featured primarily new casts and directors, and a new title: Jane Austen’s Emma. In the meantime, TheatreWorks’ audiences continued to enjoy Gordon’s new works. TheatreWorks teamed up with Ventura’s Rubicon Theater to co-produce the world premiere of Daddy Long Legs, another collaboration with book writer John Caird, at the Mountain View Center in January 2010. It has since been produced throughout the country, as well as in Canada, Tokyo, and London’s West End, a total of 15 productions. It is now playing at the Davenport Theatre off-Broadway in New York. TheatreWorks audiences saw a somewhat different side of Gordon with the 2013 world premiere of Being Earnest, written with Jay Gruska. This new musical reimagined Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest in 1960s London, retaining much of Wilde’s text but inserting original, ‘60s inspired music. Though markedly different from the period musicals we’d seen from him before, Being Earnest was close to Gordon’s roots. In his “former life” (before he began writing for the theatre), Gordon was a songwriter for major music publishing companies, with several hits on the Billboard Pop Charts. Clearly, Paul Gordon’s music and talent transcend traditional genres. As much as we’d like to claim Gordon exclusively as our own, he’s penned a number of other musicals that have been performed at companies around the country. Prior to Jane Eyre, Gordon co-wrote the musical Greetings From Venice Beach with Jay Gruska, which was produced in Hollywood in 1992. The duo also adapted the film The Front for the stage. Gordon’s Analog and Vinyl premiered at the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company in Vermont last year, his new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility was produced at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre in the spring, and Death: The Musical had its first reading at Village Theatre in Issaquah, Washington last summer. The holiday oriented Little Miss Scrooge, a collaboration with John and Sam Caird, is currently in development. This holiday season, though the show and its creator have garnered acclaim far and wide, we are thrilled to welcome our Emma back to its TheatreWorks home.
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Adapting a Story Many of the movies and plays you see today are actually adaptations, meaning they are based on a story already written. An adaptation may simply present the characters and plot points of a novel as they were originally written, or it may change the setting and situation of the story. For example, the 1996 film Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, is a fairly literal translation of Jane Austen’s novel, while 1995’s Clueless takes the same plot elements and gives them a modern twist. Both screenwriters used the same source material, both probably went through a process similar to the one outlined below, but their end results were very different.
Decide which characters and locations are needed to tell the story. The number of characters in a stage or film production should be kept small. Hiring more actors is not only costly, but too many characters can be confusing to the audience in a story only two hours long. If a character has a minor part and doesn’t affect the story much, leave that character out. When writing for the stage, do the same thing for locations: only use the most essential settings. A play can be very successful in only one place—no need for set changes! Films have a little more freedom because scenes can be shot in many different locations.
Identify what grabbed you emotionally about the story. Before you start to form the plot and characters, decide the feeling you want to invoke in the audience.
Consider the conventions of your medium. A novel is not likely to include songs, but a musical adaptation certainly would. If you’re writing a screenplay, you might show the passage of time through a montage. Keep in mind the different ways that you can convey emotion or plot points that are different from the way they’re presented in a book. Begin writing the adaptation. Once you’ve outlined your scenes, you’re ready to start writing dialogue. Use your source material as a guide, but you won’t want to copy it verbatim. If writing for the stage, include any essential stage directions. If writing for film, make sure your writing is very visual.
Decide when and where you’re setting your adaptation, if you’re departing from the original. Changing your setting to modern times can make it more accessible to today’s audiences, or putting it in a different era can highlight the universality of the story and the emotion it evokes. Pare down the story to only the most important plot points. A novel may tell a story in hundreds of pages that a film or stage adaptation would have to tell in roughly two hours. Which parts of the plot are the most important? What is extra, and might be cut out? When you’re outlining the plot, ask yourself if each scene helps to invoke the emotion you identified in the first step. Every scene doesn’t have to convey that feeling, but they should all should help carry the story to that place.
Questions to Consider Can you think of other examples of classic stories adapted for modern productions? When the writer/director decides to change the original setting, what happens to the story? What does it say about the source material, and what does it say about the new setting they’ve chosen? What stories might you like to see adapted for modern audiences?
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Building a Story Whether you’re writing an original story or adapting an existing one, you’re always thinking about what comes next. A plot is essentially that—what comes next. One way to think of your plot is to think of the journey the characters are taking. What pictures would they take along the way? Thinking of stories as journeys helps us think of the beginning, middle, and end. Some plots are like lines on the floor,
_ _ _ _ _ _ or like the alphabet,
ABCDE... or like numbers
12345... In these plots the events happen one after the other, just like they would happen in your day. Something happens because something before it happened, and there is cause and effect. One way to think of this is like a mountain: Peak of the mountain
Time moves in one direction Beginning action
End of the story
In this type of story, something generally changes from the beginning to the end. Perhaps a character changes; that is, the character may start out thinking one way, but by the end of the story, thinks another way. Or maybe the situation changes. For example, a town starts out poor, but something happens so the town ends up rich.
The Building Blocks “Tableau” is the french word for a “painting.” In theatre, a tableau is a technique actors use to create a frozen picture on stage. These frozen pictures, or images, can actually look extremely active when executed well. Guide your students through the following tableau exercises and see what kinds of stories they are able to tell with their frozen bodies! Tableaux in Pairs Students in groups of two should find a space in the room where they can explore movement together. Start with students shaking hands and making eye contact. Then ask them to freeze. The first time you do the exercise, have students create a nonsense tableau (frozen picture with their bodies) in which you cue them to move while maintaining some point of contact until you say freeze. They can name their tableau if they want to. This just gets them used to moving together. Then instruct them to create a tableau that depicts an emotion in relationship to one another. Use words to cue them such as joy, sadness, anger, grief, love, pain, despair, and weariness. Tableaux in Groups Arrange students into groups of four or five. Tell them they are going to create a tableau depicting various situations with their entire group. They do not have to have a point of contact with each group member, rather they are trying to create the most interesting picture with different people playing different roles. Give them a series of situations such as a wedding, discovering a treasure, a long journey, parents’ disapproval, a secret meeting. Following each situation, have them practice transitioning from one situation to another so that they memorize their body positions in each tableau. Once they have established each of their tableau positions, direct the groups to put them in order so that it tells a story that makes sense to them. Each group can then present their stories to the entire class.
Can you think of some stories that happen like this? Pick a story in class and read it. Discuss how the plot moves, and think about the pictures that tell the story.
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Writing Your Own Adaptation As a class, decide on a story that everyone knows. If you’ve recently finished reading a book in class, that would be a great place to start. You may use Emma, but in that case you may want to choose a different setting so that your adaptation doesn’t end up too much like the play you are about to see. Younger classes may want to pick a fairy tale or some other well-known story. Decide together what your setting will be, which plot points you want to dramatize, and which characters and locations are being used. Also decide whether you’re writing a movie screenplay or a script for the stage. Divide the class up into groups so that there is one group developing each scene (determined by how many plot points you identified earlier). Each group is responsible for writing their assigned scene. Groups should keep in mind which characters and/or locations have been cut, if any. When all the groups have finished, have them share their work by reading or performing their finished scenes. Present scenes in order, so when all groups have gone, the whole story has been told.
Title of the story you’re adapting:_____________________________________________________________________________ Original setting:_____________________________________________________________________________________________ When and where does your adaptation take place?______________________________________________________________ Necessary Characters:________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Scenes to include:___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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English Life in the 1800s party had tea, which was still an expensive commodity, kept under lock and key.
As Jane Austen was writing her novels, England was experiencing great change. The population had nearly doubled since 1760, the Industrial Revolution was changing lives, and the enclosure acts were privatizing public grazing land. In addition, in 1811 King George III was declared insane and his son became Prince Regent, giving rise to the period called The Regency (18111820). At the top of society was the aristocracy, about 200 families of immense wealth and power. Below them were the landed gentry, often seen in Austen’s novels, some of whom were titled and some who were not. In these families the eldest son inherited the estate and the younger sons had to find an income, usually from the church, the armed forces, or the law. The remaining classes were the middle class, followed by tradesmen and tenant farmers, then laborers and servants, and finally, the poor. Life was ruled by a strict code of manners. For example, first names were rarely used outside the family, and between men and women the use of first names was unthinkable unless they were engaged or related. Most private activities including reading, drawing, or letter writing were done before breakfast. Letter writing was a popular activity since it was the only way to communicate across long, or even short, distances. Due to cost, most letters were one page, so people became expert at both writing in very small letters, and writing crossways across already written text. Dinner was the largest meal and biggest event of the day, served with as many courses as the budget allowed. After dinner, the women left the table for the drawing room, leaving the men to drink and smoke. After an hour or so, the men rejoined the women, and the whole
In the evening, everyone would talk, play cards, or enjoy live music played and sung primarily by the women of the party. Sometimes, after dinner, an impromptu dance would occur, but more exciting was to attend a ball. Like everything else in society, there were strict rules governing behavior, including a prohibition against casual conversation without a formal introduction, but dancing offered unprecedented opportunities for private conversations that were forbidden anywhere but on the dance floor. The Regency was a difficult time for women. What little education they received was usually aimed at attracting a husband. Generally, women of the gentry did not work (there were exceptions including teachers and governesses), and had to make a good marriage in order to secure their social position and their livelihood. Courtship was complicated by rules established to protect a woman’s reputation. For example, before a couple was engaged, they could not use first names, be alone together, or correspond. Any deviation might imply a loss of virtue for the woman. Women were usually married by twenty-five, although many married in their teens. Often they had many children, and death in childbirth was not uncommon. Three of Austen’s brothers lost wives in childbirth, two with their eleventh child. Women who never married had to rely on relatives for their support, or find work in a world of limited opportunity. Women such as Austen were beginning to break this mold. The relatively new genre of the novel attracted a number of female authors, although many looked down on them and their work. It would be many years before the idea of independent women gained society’s respect.
Questions to Consider How is your life different now than it would have been in the 1800s? What role has technology played in changing society? Do you think there are still social classes in our society? Compare and contrast today’s social structure with that of nineteenth century England.
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The Status of Women in the 1800s During Jane Austen’s time, the status of women was vastly different from today. Women were seen by most as subservient to men. A woman was expected to stay in the home, raise the children and create a warm, comfortable environment for her husband. She had almost no legal rights and was expected to have even fewer ambitions. In England, these notions of femininity were forwarded by organizations like the Women’s Mission which advocated that a woman become an "Angel of the Hearth," caring for the private home while her husband dealt with the public world. Not only did most people believe a "woman’s place was in the home" but, the ideal woman of the period possessed several essential qualities including self-restraint, self-sacrifice on behalf of others, gentleness, delicacy, and obedience. Before marriage, a girl of the upper and middle classes spent her time mastering duties associated with womanhood. She would learn to sew, embroider and knit with grace, perfect a foreign language (most likely French) and learn to play an instrument. She also learned the proper decorum and etiquette of entertaining in her home. Girls had limited academic opportunities. Although most girls from the middle and upper class were educated by governesses or sent to boarding schools while young, they were barred from advanced education. Strong emphasis was placed on female friends and maintaining solid relationships with the women in one’s life. Most middle class women of 19th century England spent their lives in the company of other women: sisters, teachers and friends. While single, women under the age of thirty were not permitted to be in the same room with a man unchaperoned, unless he was a close relative like a brother, father, or uncle. Women had little choice in whether they wanted to marry. Remaining single invited particular hardship on them, both financially and socially. Wealthy families passed down the bulk of their money to the sons; girls only received a small percentage intended to cover basic day to day needs. In theory, marrying ensured a woman that she would be taken care of financially since most middle and lower-class families could not afford to keep their daughters at home after marrying age (their early twenties). Moreover, even if they didn’t want to get married, few women could afford to remain single, as few professions were open to them. Women without financial security had only two respectable professions to pursue; they could become a teacher or governess.
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Socially, the woman who remained single was pitied and disapproved of. Divorced women (a rare phenomenon), unmarried mothers, and children, especially girls, born out of wedlock were all seen as outcasts. Even when married, many women suffered hardship. Legally, a woman gave up all her rights to her husband. For example, everything a woman owned, inherited or earned, as well as her children, would belong to her husband. She had no right to leave her spouse even in cases of cruelty and adultery. In the decades that followed the publication of Emma, many English writers and thinkers began to ponder the "Women Question," asking whether women possessed more intellectual ability than merely sewing and entertaining, and questioned the type of education women should receive. As a result of these questions, the first institute of higher education for women was established in London in 1849. Legally, women were also starting to gain ground. Beginning during the 1840s, British novelist Caroline Norton actively campaigned for better rights for women, and by the 1880s she had successfully secured pivotal rights for women including the right to ask for a divorce from a cruel or adulterous husband and the right to retain one’s own money and property after marriage. Women also began asking if certain qualities belonged to a man alone. Could a woman possess "manly" qualities like self-assertion and ambition without forsaking her womanhood? Charlotte Brontë, author of Jane Eyre, was one of these women. In her letters and her novels, Brontë consistently called for equality of intellect and social ranking between men and women. Her novel caused quite a stir in England when it was published because Brontë’s heroine Jane is independent and passionate, and Jane (acting as Brontë’s mouthpiece) expressed views of equality between the sexes that were seen as radical by many. Questions to Consider How has life changed for women in the past two hundred years? What challenges do women still face in achieving equality? What role does literature play in changing society?
Social Hierarchies in the 1800s Societal structures in nineteenth century England were very rigid and, for the most part, readily accepted by people as right, good, and the proper order of things. It was so rigid that you could pretty much fit everyone into a category. Below is a breakdown of the social hierarchy in a pyramid formation. Where would Emma Woodhouse have fit into this pyramid? How about Mr. Elton? Given her unknown origins, what class do you think Harriet Smith would have belonged to? Think about the characters in Emma, and write their names in at their proper level on the pyramid below.
The Middle Class Doctors, Clergy The middle class consisted mainly of doctors and the clergy. The minimum qualifications for being middle class was to have servants and a carriage. The main difference between the middle and upper classes was ownership of land. Sometimes a doctor might own a house but not a substantial piece of land like an estate, so he still had to work for a living and was therefore considered middle class. The other main difference between middle and upper class families is that middle class families were not given titles.
The Upper Class Nobility, Gentry, Gentlemen The upper class was made up of the nobility (dukes, marquees, earls, viscounts, barons) and the gentry (baronets, knights, and gentlemen.) “Gentlemen� was a generic term used to describe a large number of people in a wide variety of circumstances, however, there were some requirements for this term: one had to have at least two servants (one male and one female), a carriage, and must own land. They made money off their land, but did not perform manual labor.
The Lower Class Tradesmen, Apothecaries, Working Poor, Farm Laborers, Servants Anyone who handled money or performed manual labor was considered lower class.
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Social Hierarchies Today By now you’ve learned all about the social class system in England during the early nineteenth century. While the boundaries are no longer as distinct, social classes based on wealth, education, and many other factors are still present in our lives today. See the graphic below to see a modern breakdown of social classes. Some people argue that America is a “Meritocracy,” meaning that our upper class is made up of people of great talent and intelligence, not people who were merely born wealthy. Indeed, it is the very root of the American dream: that anyone, regardless of wealth or social standing, can work hard and make a good life for him/herself. While it is true that a person’s social class is no longer determined by birth, it is hard to ignore the advantages given to children of the upper classes. Their parents can afford to live in the best communities with the best schools, and support edifying extracurricular activities. They are able to devote their high school years to compiling impressive college applications, which in turn allow them to attend prestigious universities, obtain high paying jobs, and pass their success on to their own children. That isn’t to say that exceptional students from lower class families cannot do the same, they just face more obstacles along the way.
Questions to Consider Do you think it is possible to rise to a higher social class than you are born in? What do you think about the idea of Meritocracy? Social hierarchies are present in just about every society. Even high schools have their own distinct class structure: cliques determined by the kind of activities students participate in, the clothes they wear, the music they listen to, etc. Many popular movies depict the social structures of high school, including Clueless (a modern day adaptation of Emma) and the more recent Mean Girls. Do you feel these representations of high school are accurate? Are the cliques in these movies similar to ones in your school? How so?
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After the Play: Exploring Themes The following themes are present in both the novel and the musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma. Read the explanation of each theme and, in the space provided, write down examples from the story that illustrate these themes. If you’ve read the book, cite specific passages. If not, describe relevant scenes that you remember from the musical.
Marriage In the 1800s, marriage was often considered to be an economic arrangement rather than a union of two people in love. This is not to say that love was not a factor, or that it did not prevail in some cases. However, people did not often marry without attention to the financial and social standings of the people involved, especially in the middle and upper classes. There is no shortage of marriages taking place in Emma, and no shortage of attention to class within these marriages. Think about the matches made, and the degree of social suitability each couple embodies. Do some characters marry outside their class? What obstacles do they encounter? Imagination vs. Objective Judgement It can sometimes be difficult to view a situation without any amount of bias. After all, every person has his or her own perspective based on life experiences. In most cases a personal slant is not a dangerous thing, but trouble occurs when personal fancy gets in the way of one’s ability to perceive what is obviously true.
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Time and again, the characters in Emma come to realize that their own fancies have clouded their ability to objectively judge a situation. Often they misinterpret the intentions of others, but in some situations even fail to understand their own feelings. The Confinement of Women In the 1800s, a woman enjoyed very few liberties, regardless of her social class. In Emma’s case, though she has no need to provide for herself or her family, the alternative—a life devoted to shallow social encounters —doesn’t seem particularly attractive. She has little use for her intellect, and holds almost no power in life outside of the ability to accept or reject a proposal of marriage.
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Teachers: these answers may serve as the beginnings of an essay. Each student may select one of the above themes and write a short paper about its relevance in Emma. Alternately, students could be split into three groups, each group working together to research one of the themes and put together a presentation for the rest of the class.
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After the Play: Discussion Questions Comparing the Novel to the Play When you were reading the novel, what did you visualize (or picture) in your mind? How did the characters look? What did the setting look like? Were any of your visualizations similar to what you saw onstage? Did you see anything onstage that made you think of something you hadn’t considered while reading the story? Was it helpful to see the story in this form? Why or why not? Emma as a Musical Given what you now know about the time period, how did the different theatrical elements assist in telling the story andcreating the period? Consider the costumes, the lighting, and the scenery. Heightened Language in a Musical In musicals, such as the adaptation of Emma you saw at TheatreWorks, actors suddenly burst into song. This is a convention of musicals. Different conventions exist in all art forms. For example, in movies and television, characters don't really get from one place to another as quickly as they appear to, but we understand that the boring part of their journey has been cut. Conventions help the poetry of the work of art come to life. A song is often described as “poetry to music.” Characters in the live theatre live in a heightened state of reality or a heightened sense of life in which they experience emotions with great force. It is almost as if their passion, their pain, their happiness is so overwhelming, it can only be expressed through song. What heightened moments were expressed through song in the musical Emma? Could you tell how the characters were feeling (happy, sad, angry) by the way the actors delivered the song? Is this different or similar to songs you hear on the radio? Why are we drawn to listening to stories through song? Why Emma? Why did Paul Gordon choose to make Emma into a musical? Why do we still read the novel 200 years later? Sure, our English teachers make us read it because it is a“classic.” But why is it a classic? What does it say to us that is still relevant today? What are the universal themes that we can still learn from today?
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Student Matinees/STUDENT Feedback Name____________________________________Grade_____________School_________________________________________ Performance Tasks based CA State theatre arts standards Select and complete one of the following activities:
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Rewrite the ending of the play. How would you like to see it end? Why?
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Pick a moment in the play that affected you. Describe the stage elements that created that moment for you (the script, acting, lighting, music, costumes, set design, sound design and/or direction).
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Write a review of the play or an actor.
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Describe something you would change in the production. Describe what benefit that change would create in the production and why.
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Identify and describe how this production might affect the values and behavior of the audience members who have seen it.
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Write about any careers you learned about in attending this production (example: stage hands, set designers, actors, etc.).
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STUDENT evaluation (cont)
Finish the following statements: The most important thing I learned from this play was: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Besides getting out of school, the best thing about attending this student matinee is: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Learning through the theatre is different from my regular class because: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ If I could change something about attending a student matinee, I would: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I'm going to use what I learned, saw, or experienced by: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Student Matinee/TEACHER Evaluation Name_____________________________________________________________________School___________________________
Please rate your Student Matinee experience below:
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Planning I received sufficient and timely information from TheatreWorks before the matinee
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Matinee Workshops Supported other curriculum areas/subjects
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Engaged students' interest and attention
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I would like to learn how to lead more of these kinds of activities on my own in the classroom
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Strongly Disagree Post-Matinee Students were engaged in this experience
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The "Performance Tasks" were useful in helping my students understand their experience
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TEACHER Evaluation (cont) For your classrooms please list the strengths of watching a student matinee. _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ In terms of your teaching, did this particular Student Matinee give you any arts integration ideas for your curriculum? _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ We are very interested in your feedback. What worked for you about this experience? _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ What did not work for you? _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ Additional Comments: _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ TheatreWorks student matinees tend to fill up quickly. Tickets for the 2015/16 season are available now— please visit theatreworks.org for the most up-to-date information. Please keep us updated with your current contact information to receive show announcements and booking information. Also, let us know if you have friends who would like to be added to our mailing lists!