The Gilded Age: Exploring the Multiverse of New York High Society
As Denée Benton puts it, the third season of “The Gilded Age” saw the show’s “multiverse expand.” Benton plays Peggy Scott on the HBO drama, set in New York high society in the late 1800s. Season 3 saw Benton’s Peggy find love with Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica), much to the chagrin of William’s snooty mother, Elizabeth (Phylicia Rashad) — who disapproves of the Scott family for many reasons, including their dark skin and the fact that Peggy’s dad is a pharmacist without generational wealth.
Telling the story of the Black elite living in Newport, R.I., and the classism and colorism within that community was vitally important. “The more we explore what really went on in that time, the more we can make Black characters in television, film and theater fully three-dimensional,” says Audra McDonald, who plays Peggy’s mother, Dorothy. “When I first heard about ‘The Gilded Age,’ I was like, ‘Oh, what servant am I going to be asked to play? What downtrodden character?’ So the fact that they’ve been so accurate, that’s been the most exciting thing for me.”
Breaking Down Barriers and Tackling Colorism
Nor has colorism — including in Hollywood — been consigned to the dustbin of history. “None of it has really changed,” Benton says. The introduction of the Scotts’ tense dynamic with the Kirkland family, which also includes William’s dad, Frederick (Brian Stokes Mitchell), along with other relatives and friends, has helped the series stay “new and true,” according to Benton. “If we had gone the same old route of period dramas and tokenism, it would have fallen flat.”
Audra McDonald, left, and Denée Benton in “The Gilded Age.”
(Karolina Wojtasik / HBO)
Forgiveness and Redemption
Many of Peggy’s storylines in the first two seasons centered on the fact that her father, Arthur (John Douglas Thompson), upset that Peggy had married a man he deemed beneath her, got her marriage annulled, lied to her that her baby died at birth and secretly gave her son up for adoption. Peggy and Dorothy discovered the truth, only to learn that the little boy had since died of scarlet fever. By the show’s third season, however, Peggy and Dorothy seem to have forgiven Arthur for his horrific betrayal.
“This is a time when divorce really isn’t an option,” McDonald says. “So Dorothy is going to have to live with this man for the rest of her life, and she knows that. I think it would have been detrimental to Peggy if Dorothy were to have never forgiven Arthur. Dorothy needed to forgive Arthur to model that for Peggy.”
