The Heiress has an impressive history: It was originally an 1880 Henry James novel called Washington Square, before debuting as a play in 1947 and a movie in 1949. Another film version was released in 1997. But despite its long past, the show — about a woman (Chastain) caught between a controlling father (David Strathairn) and a young suitor (Stevens) who may only be after money, not love — is incredibly modern, according to Chastain. “It’s very relevant, a woman believing she is what the men in her life tells her she is,” Chastain said. “And it goes from her father to her suitor to finally at the end of the play, she’s on her own.”. For Stevens, the chance to play a character a little less pure-hearted than Matthew Crawley was part of the draw. “I was just blown away by reading the play,” he said.
“I loved the moral ambiguities and the questions it asked.I don’t think it’s clear cut. Some people say, ‘He’s a gold digger.’ Well, is he? I don’t know. I think it’s more interesting and complex than that.
The father certainly thinks he is, and some of the audience might think he is. I hope some of the audience might think he’s not. That idea of playing with uncertainty and doubt, it’s really exciting and makes for great theater.”.
2019-12-19 Jessica Chastain, David Strathairn, Dan Stevens and Judith Ivey star in the Broadway revival of this 1947 play, adapted from the Henry James novel 'Washington Square.'