Behind the Mask: “You Are Passionate, Jane” – The Story of a Play

Some years ago, I wanted to write a play about Jane Austen, in which she would have a conversation with another famous author. My choice was Lord Byron, for they were both alive and in England, sometimes even in London, at the same time. They never met, but they knew about each other’s existence. Austen didn’t seem to think very highly of Byron, as in a letter she famously wrote “I have read the Corsair, mended my petticoat, and have nothing else to do,” which sounds rather disparaging. We know Byron at least had heard of her, because his future wife Annabella Milbanke wrote to him, “I have finished the novel called Pride & Prejudice, which I think a very superior work. It depends not on any of the common resources of Novel writers, no drownings, nor conflagrations, nor runaway horses, nor lap-dogs & parrots, nor chambermaids & milliners, nor rencontres and disguises. I really think it is the most probable fiction I have ever read. It is not a crying book, but the interest is very strong, especially for Mr. Darcy.” Even so, there was no hint of an actual encounter between the two authors, and I could not bring them together in any plausible way. It’s true that Austen and Byron had the same publisher and might theoretically have met at John Murray’s office, but it didn’t happen. Austen did not seek out other authors, would have disapproved of Byron’s reputation, and it’s hard to imagine him being interested in a middle-aged lady writer and rector’s daughter. Their only possible meeting could be in Heaven, and then there was the problem of Byron being unlikely to appear there.

So next on my wish list was Charlotte Bronte. Since she was born the year before Austen died, there could be no real life encounter to be embellished; but at least Heaven was not out of the question. I conceived the idea of Austen being the arbiter who decided which authors would be admitted – and she would not have thought much of Charlotte. For Charlotte we have something to go on in discovering her feelings and opinions on Austen. She wrote to literary critic George Henry Lewes asking “Why do you like Jane Austen so very much?” and went on to list all the reasons why she didn’t. That was plenty to start with, and so I wrote my play, a dialogue between Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte in Heaven. In the ensuing discussion, their differences, their work, their passions and their fates, are on display, with, I dearly hope, some slightest echo of their eloquence and wit.

I couldn’t possibly get away with playing Jane Austen myself in a staged reading, but I thought my friend and fellow Austenesque novelist Syrie James could; and I would play Charlotte. Syrie’s and my own styles and personalities are widely different, and this helped to illustrate the contrasts between Jane and Charlotte interestingly.

So we performed stage play readings on the West Coast, in Seattle, Pasadena, and Huntington Beach and had the honor of being invited to put on the play at Chawton House Library in England. That was an amazing thrill, one of the most gratifying of my life! But more was to come.

This year the play was selected by Jane Austen & Co, to be first in an online series of presentations on Austen and the Brontes. This is an educational website sponsored by the University of North Carolina, which presents literary topics and maintains a library of the videos that have been performed. My play can be found on their website, here. Click on Recorded Events, then Austen and the Brontes, and scroll down to the bottom of the page:

https://www.janeaustenandco.org/austen-and-the-brontes

It is also available to watch on Youtube, under the play’s name “You are Passionate, Jane,” or simply at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn5d0974FiY

So you can watch it at any time of your choosing, for free – though the site does welcome donations to further their work.

Even though Syrie and I had some experience performing these staged readings, this recording was something different. We weren’t on a stage and in need of blocking, and projection, and all those good things. We actually filmed the recorded Zoom at Syrie’s house. She set up her laptop and camera on top of a stack of encyclopedias, and put a lace cloth behind us for background. We sat close together so you could see both our faces on the screen, but it was just head and shoulders, with Syrie’s tiara and my lace collar, but our whole costumes couldn’t be seen. The professors David Palko and Eric Bontempo, co-host Deborah Barnum of Jane Austen in Vermont, and technical director Na’Dayah Pugh, made the introductions and also conducted a fabulous Q & A discussion session afterwards. And then we were on!

It all passed like a flash, we were so absorbed, feeling every moment of the conflict, emotion, comedy and drama – and I can only say how intoxicating a thrill it is, speaking one’s own words for an audience! And what an audience! Comments and questions kept pouring in, and the discussion was lively. Thanks to the Zoom and internet technology, more people have now seen my play onscreen than saw it in all the live performances together!

And I hope my Austen Variations friends will see and enjoy it, too. Thanks for watching – and see you at the (virtual) theater!

Our set, after the show!