5 Questions with Kate Hennig from Pride and Prejudice

By Keith Tomasek, May 8, 2025

Kate Hennig is one of Canada’s most accomplished theatre artists—an award-winning actor, playwright, and director with a career that includes Broadway, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and many of Canada’s great stages, including the Stratford Festival and the Shaw Festival.

Her performances and writing reveal a keen understanding of power, patriarchy, and forms of resistance.

At Shaw, where she served as associate artistic director, Hennig earned acclaim for her sharp intellect and commanding stage presence. Her performances ranged from the biting wit of Lady Bracknell to the raw emotional force of Momma Rose, showcasing her extraordinary versatility and depth. At Stratford, she brought intensity to roles in “Romeo and Juliet” and “Breath of Kings.” Her Queenmaker series: “The Last Wife” (2015), “The Virgin Trial” (2017) and “Mother’s Daughter” (2019) premiered at the Stratford Festival to critical acclaim and have since been produced on stages across Canada and internationally.

Currently, Hennig is onstage at London’s Grand Theatre, where she’s delighting audiences as the meddling but love-driven Mrs. Bennet in Kate Hamill’s kinetic adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice,” directed by Rebecca Northan. The production is a spirited, irreverent take on the Jane Austen classic that leans into the comedy.

Five Questions with Kate Hennig

1) Both you and Jane Austen grew up with fathers who were ministers—she in the Anglican tradition, you in the Lutheran one. Do you think that kind of upbringing gives you a particular lens on questions of morality, power, or social roles in your work?

My father was a man of service, a man of the people, and able to converse with anyone on almost any subject. That said, if you wanted to speak to him about the Old Testament or baseball, he could talk to you for hours.

I only hope that, in the spirit of my father, I serve the theatre community, I make myself available as a leader and a mentor, and I engage with my colleagues and our audiences with generosity and interest. And then I have my own little areas of expertise, if you ever want to get me started.

2) Your Queenmaker Trilogy explores power and gender through the lives of Tudor queens—Katherine Parr, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.

Jane Austen tackled similar themes in the context of her own time. Has revisiting Austen’s work inspired you to consider writing something set in the present day?

What remains central and very present in this production of Austen’s magnificent story is the birth of the “new woman.” Lizzy wants to live her life in her own way, and push against the confines of her society’s — and her mother’s — expectations. This is a theme worth perpetual revisiting.

I continue to write plays about women who challenge expectation. I am currently writing a play called “Sex in the ‘80s,” which explores — among other things — how sexual ethics change with time.

3) Having directed and written for the stage, you have a 360-degree view of storytelling. How does that perspective affect the choices you make as an actor—especially with a character like Mrs. Bennet, who can so easily tip into caricature?

My experience as a director and a playwright give me real insight into a character’s place in the play. There’s a freedom — a sense of relief, perhaps — when you know what you are serving in terms of the bigger picture: your role in the whole. That means taking space when it is yours to take, and really giving it when that is what is needed.

As a playwright I have to trust that a playwright has done their work, that they know what they want, and what is necessary for their play to succeed. In the case of Kate Hamill and her adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice,” this means embracing “caricature”. Her stage directions, her use of “all-caps” and punctuation, all indicate this clearly.

Kate Hennig, Lior Maharjan, Carmend Grant, Raechel Fisher, Beck Lloyd. Photo Dahlia Katz4) There’s a lot of debate about the various film adaptations of “Pride and Prejudice.” Mrs. Bennet has been portrayed in different ways over the decades—from Mary Boland’s 1940 theatricality to Alison Steadman’s manic energy in 1995, to Brenda Blethyn’s more grounded interpretation in 2005. Which portrayal, if any, speaks to your own interpretation of the character, and why?

I would say that the interpretation of all the roles in the play is Kate Hamill’s. She tells the heart of the play — the relationship between Lizzy and Darcy — with tenderness, passion, and intrigue. The rest of the world has been turned on its head.

This “Pride and Prejudice” has only 8 actors, playing 15 parts. We are all constantly changing the scenery and our costumes. The characters are broadly drawn, and riotous in their irreverence. I hope the purists who come to the performance will be wooed by the outrageous sense of humour created by the playwright for the world of the play.

Kate Hennic, Andrew Moodie. Photo Dahlia Katz5) Kate Hamill’s adaptation has been credited with uncovering humour hidden in Austen’s characters. Your director, Rebecca Northan, has established herself as a master of spontaneous comedy and emotional nuance—how did those qualities influence the tone and rhythms in the rehearsals of this production?

Rebecca directs this “version” of “Pride and Prejudice” with all the skill one might expect. She is a goddess of comedy. She hears comedy as music, and has orchestrated the production with incredibly clarity, audacity, and hilarity.

We laughed our heads off in rehearsal as everyone engaged with creating “bits”. We have an incredibly gifted group of funny people. And we keep each other on our toes.

Either Or.

From each pair below, pick one and explain why briefly with no more than two sentences:

1) Imelda Marcos or Melania Trump?
Chrystia Freeland

2) Dolly Levi or Emma Woodhouse?
Olive Kitteridge

3) Roast Pig or a House Salad?
“NO PIG” (what 1980s movie am I quoting?)

4) A Stanley cup or a wine glass?
I have a dog named Stanley, but he doesn’t drink out of a cup.

5) Grass court at Wimbledon or hard court at the US Open?
Do they play in the summer? I also play in the summer.

DETAILS DETAILS
Pride and Prejudice
On Now Through May 17
Grand Theatre
471 Richmond St, London, ON
Book Online: https://www.grandtheatre.com/event/pride-and-prejudice
Call the box office:(519) 672-8800

Don’t miss the story we published in 2015: Two Great Kates: Kate Hennig’s The Last Wife