Queer Adaptation and Fan Culture: Kate Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice (2017)

Abstract

First paragraph: Recent adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels for the stage have found both critical and fan acclaim by queering the characters they adapt. In the last ten years, fans have been treated to a number of plays that queer their novel counterparts: Isobel McArthur’s Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) (2018) portrays Charlotte Lucas as a lesbian; Zoe Cooper’s Northanger Abbey (2024) explores Catherine and Isabella’s friendship as a romance and reimagines Henry Tilney as a gay man; and the improvised show Austentatious (2011–present) has developed a spin-off, Crosstentatious, in aid of the LGBTQ+ charity Waverley Care. Austen’s six novels—and even her unfinished works—have thus sustained their relevance for twenty-first-century theatre audiences beyond textually faithful adaptations. Scholars have long noted film adaptations as a marker of Austen’s queer legacy (e.g., the queering of Frank Churchill in Amy Heckerling’s 1995 film Clueless), but researchers have neglected to consider queer theatre adaptations in longer studies. This article undertakes a close reading of Kate Hamill’s play Pride and Prejudice (2017) to argue that queer theatre adaptations, rather than simply modernizing or politicizing Austen’s work, reflect themes regarding gender and sexuality that are genuinely present in her six novels while using stage conventions such as crossdressing, sound effects, and stage design to make these themes more apparent for contemporary audiences.