I, Anna, have been cast as Jane Austen in the stage adaptation of 'Emma' by Sandra Fenichel Asher. Jane's role in this play is to tell the story of Emma to the audience, while she directs her characters with glee, affection and delight. As our director says, "Jane is the beat of this play." She begins and ends each important scene.
I had hoped to have the role of a character in the story, in order to bring their emotions and interactions with fellow characters to life. But now, I cannot imagine getting a better part than the creator of all these complex and true-to-life people! I have the privilege to be the woman who created my favorite hero, Mr. Knightley, Emma, "faultless in spite of all her faults," the hysterically mistaken Mr. Elton, Miss Bates, who chats away in the same way as our next door neighbor might do, and all the rest: Mr. Woodhouse, John Knightley, Mr. Weston, Mrs. Elton, Jane Fairfax, Harriet Smith.
Now to the point of this blog: This is my journey to, through studying Jane Austen's life and her mind, portray her to an audience who has been exposed to (in my humble opinion) incorrect portrayals of what she was really like. I'm going to share my discoveries here. What I find, where I find it, and any purely inspiring words of the lady herself.
This is a serious responsibility. Who was Jane Austen, exactly? Some people think her a saint, some consider her to be concealing inappropriate descriptions in her writings left and right, some don't know anything about her! I want to show the world who Jane Austen was.
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