Pride & Prejudice is hallowed turf, and fans will naturally be apprehensive about Isobel McArthur’s ‘raucous’, ‘audacious’, ‘irreverant’ and ‘riotous’ version of their hallowed turf.
Direct from its triumph in the West End – where it won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy – Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) is now on tour, and last night was the start of its week run at Lighthouse Poole, until 23rd November.
It’s silly, it’s sweary, it’s loud and foolish and fun … and it manages to utterly capture the heart of the iconic book.
The familiar story unfolds as expected, but is told through the eyes of the five servant girls in the Bennett house as they act out the parts of ‘them upstairs’.
To keep the script tight and pacey, some characters have been dropped. Writer Isobel McArthur says: ‘There are 119 named characters in the original Pride & Prejudice. We have reduced this to an essential 18, played by just five actors. Lightning-fast costume changes are required from the cast throughout. They also play the instruments, sing the songs and perform all the scene changes.
‘However, this is not merely in the interests of economy. In our adaption, the Pride & Prejudice story is told by the female servants of a Regency-era household. During the Napoleonic wars, these women really did it all.’
Those speed character and costume switches are part of the joy – you never know who is going to pop out from where. And while the story runs true to the original, there’s a new twist to Charlotte Lucas which made complete sense – and provides an aching sadness for her character when she appears, running beneath the Bennett’s cheerfully chaotic mayhem.
The chemistry among the cast was tangible, they were having the best time and brought the whole audience along with them for the joy of it. All the familiar characters are exaggerated and enlarged, a natural consequence of seeing them from the perspective of house servants with their naturally mocking air. Bingley was bonkers – not so quiet and gentle as he’s usually perceived, but frenetic and silly and lots of fun. Naomi Preston’s Wickham was hilariously awful (and we saw far too little of him) and Rhianna McGreevy’s brilliant Darcy was played with Colin Firth-esque stillness and contained fury. I loved the nod to the unspoken thoughts of the audience when he unexpectedly met Elizabeth at Pemberley (‘you’re looking awfully dry, sir… don’t fancy a swim?). The delicious growing tension between Darcy and Elizabeth was perfect, eventually strong enough to see how ardently he admired and loved her…
As I’ve grown older I’ll admit I have grown in sympathy with the much-maligned Mrs Bennett, and Isobel McArthur’s malicious version oddly kept me on her side – while still mocking her absolute stupidity and awfulness of course. She’s the only one that genuinely seems to understand the very real consequences of her girls not marrying well.
My one disappointment from this production was oddly with Jane Austen’s most comical character of all – Mr Collins was nowhere near creepy enough, appearing simply dull rather than the finger-curling awful I expected. Though his simpering during Lady In Red was exactly as I’d have wished!
Among the fun, the pithy one liners and the stonking pop songs, there’s some sharp commentary on the plight of the servant class in Georgian England. Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) is smart, roar-out-loud funny and an absolutely brilliant evening.
• Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) is on at Lighthouse Poole until Saturday 23rd Novmber. Evenings performances at 19:45, matinees (Thurs and Sat) at 14:30.
