ABOUT SELDOM THEATRE COLLECTIVE
A new theatre intergenerational company committed to telling stories seldom told. Sitting in the world of unexplored paradigms of women 's stories, truth telling, and consistently re-examining 'known' knowns.
Our inaugural production 'By Jane's Hand', a whimsical window into the magnificent mind of Jane Austen, had two sold out seasons at 'La Mama Courthouse.' Melbourne (2023, 2024), was featured as part of the Victorian School's Curriculum in Theatre Studies for final year secondary students and the play is published by leading playwright publisher Currency Press.
You can hear the original cast recording of the music in By Jane's Hand on all good streaming services.
Our Intergenerational Creatives
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Co-Creative Director
Dr Emma O'Brien OAM
Emma is an award winning multiskilled creative, a composer, researcher, director, music video editor, a published playwright, and co-founder of Seldom Theatre Collective
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Co-Creative Director
Olivia O'Brien
Olivia is a co-founder of Seldom Theatre Collective, a singer, actor, puppeteer, stilt walker and a published playwright.
Creative's notes on By Jane's Hand
All the text in this play is by Jane Austen, drawn from her letters to her sister Cassandra, and from her timeless novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’. All the letters were selected for content and context and are not always presented chronologically. The dialogue from Pride and Prejudice was chosen to give the audience an imagining of her creative process. The spoken word is interspersed and underpinned with music that Jane transcribed, including folk ballads, classical pieces, and bawdy Ale House tunes. The music reflects on, and guides, the narrative. Music transcription was common in Jane’s time. In her hand scribed collections, we found raucous folk songs, standard classical arias and dances, and often with word substitutions and her own arrangements. All songs arranged by Emma O’Brien except for Hot Cross Buns and Goosey Goosey Gander. The arrangements for these two songs are attributed to Jane Austen.
Jane Austen’s life was censored by the patriarchy and romanticised by popular culture. Of the 3,000 missives written by Jane, only 161 survive. Why did her family burn her letters? How and why did she create? To explore these elements and reports of Jane, we have delved into her letters, some of which are sharp tongued, others very much day to day diary like, and some deeply personal. We listened to and played songs from her personal music collection. Finally, we have immersed ourselves in her most famous novel, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and reimagined her creative process, by slowly breathing her characters in and interrogating their idiosyncrasies to better understand their origins. We concluded that one actor was not enough to play the many sides of Jane and so she is portrayed by three actors. The JANES also play characters from ‘Pride and Prejudice’ within the world of the play.
Many writers and researchers have criticised portrayals of Jane Austen and adaptations of her novels as being ‘sweetened up’ ‘censored’ and ‘romanticised’. This piece is actively avoiding both a romantic and anti-romantic framework. It does however acknowledge that Jane’s commentary on her time in her novels, was not through rose-coloured glasses, but rather through a unique female perspective and an acerbic wit.
We also honour the Austen tradition of home plays- acting out ‘mini ‘dramas’ and ‘tableaux’s’ throughout.
This play is not meant to be a revelation about her or a new truth, but rather an immersion in multiple elements of the enigma that is Jane Austen. We invite you to step inside her magnificent mind bringing what you know about her, her novels, and her meaning to the space; and maybe discover more.