Unconditional love for Lizzy

Jennifer Ehle was one of the many actors who attended the opening night party for Unconditional on Monday, at Colors and The Public Theater in New York. These lovely photos are from BroadwayWorld, while WireImage have an additional one. If you want to know about the play itself, see Playbill or this ad by the Labyrinth Theatre Company.

Also, thank you to the reader who let us know about the 'Making Of' feature included on The Russell Girl DVD. A reminder that the DVD can be purchased from Hallmark, or alternatively there are a few copies on Amazon. (Without giving everything away, the blisters in the rosebush scene were not stick-ons!)

Now for the latest in all things Austen:

• Mercury News talk about adaptations old and new as well as the Jane Austen House Museum in England. There is also some brief quotage from 1995 Pride and Prejudice director Andrew Davies.
  
• Lights, Camera...History! have included Lizzy Bennet/Jennifer Ehle in their un-ordered list of Top Ten Historical Heroines. Reminiscent of a similar comment quoted in our last post, they say:

[...] No favorite heroines poll could exist without Lizzy. Her path to love was not easy but she and Darcy were made for each other from the start. How could anyone resist her wit, her intelligent or even her eyes… Jennifer Ehle’s performance is magnificent and sometimes it’s even hard to think that she is not our Lizzie. [...]

• Two individuals from California Catholic Daily discuss Pride and Prejudice from a Catholic perspective, giving an overall thumbs up for the story, its author and its actors in the 1995 version:

[...] Elizabeth is Austen's finest character in what I think is her finest book. And it's not just that Elizabeth is witty, she's got an aggressive, independent, edge to her, though all, of course, within the confines of proper behavior. Again, I'm grateful to writer Andrew Davies, actress Jennifer Ehle, and director Simon Langton for capturing all of that so well. [...]

• Another writer describes the 1995 adaptation as the 'crème de la crème' of the Complete Jane Austen offerings, but spares a thought for the thousands of American Austenites consequently suffering from sleep deprivation at the moment.

The Masterpiece extravaganza has also reignited the fire of Pride and Prejudice discussion in the blogosphere. Comments made over the last few days from ordinary viewers include:

Firstly:

[...] I was most fascinated by Jennifer Ehle, who played Elizabeth and how she was without a doubt born to play the role of Elizabeth Bennet - the way she captured her was nothing less than astonishing. [...]

Secondly:

[...] As for Jennifer Ehle, she plays Lizzie exactly as she is written in the book - with a sparkling personality, opinions, wit, charm, someone anyone would want for a best friend (never mind Darcy's wife). [...]

Thirdly:

[...] Jennifer Ehle really encapsulates Eliza as I picture her, aside from appearing older than 20. [...]

Lastly, in LRN (Loosely-Related News):

• Filmcatcher have a video with director Santosh Sivan which we may have missed from the TIFF, in which he discusses Before the Rains. Gossip Nepal chat to Rahul Bose, albeit not about the film, and The Reeler pass comment on the Pride and Glory kerfuffle. Finally, Ben Brantley of the New York Times has a piece about playwrights Tom Stoppard and Edward Albee.

So, for Pride and Prejudice-ers in America, it is two down, one to go. Regardless of where you are however, see how many of these apply to you....