PRIDE & PREJUDICE* (*SORT OF) | FESTIVAL THEATRE, EDINBURGH
★★★
‘Bouncing from role to role they breath life into much loved characters with gleeful irreverence, and hilarious results’
The Irn Bru flows in this off-the-wall retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice. It’s brought to life by five domestic servants who, as they tell us, have been integral to Austen’s second novel from the day she began writing it in 1796.
Such a claim has never been more true than in this hilarious production, which finds the feisty housemaids emulating their ‘upstairs betters’ as they transform the romantic tale into a comedy of errors, each adopting numerous roles along the way.
For those unfamiliar with the novel, Mr Bennet, owner of the Longbourn estate in Hertfordshire, has five daughters. However, his state can only be passed to a male heir. As his wife lacks an inheritance, his whole family faces being made destitute upon his death… unless one or more of his daughters can marry well and support her mother and siblings.
Written and directed by Isobel McArthur, Pride and Prejudice* (*Sort of) is a madcap, feminist pastiche of the source material which, being of its time, boasts plenty to parody.
An anachronistic clash of cultures, McArthur’s script is liberally peppered with belly-laughs, expletives and the odd double-entendre. Interspersed with a host of well known pop anthems, it takes outrageous liberties with Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy’s ever-growing attraction to each other, for all the right reasons. Her direction is inventive, imaginative, often bonkers and occasionally haphazard. It’s those unexpectedly bonkers moments that elicit explosive spontaneous laughter from the audience.
The all-female cast of five – Eleanor Kane, Rhianna McGreevy, Naomi Preston Low, Christine Steel and Isobel Donkin – prove a talented troupe, bouncing from role to role as they breath life into some of the best loved characters in British literature with gleeful irreverence, and hilarious results – the Bennets, Fitzwilliam Darcy, George Wickham… they are all there.
McGreevy is particularly impressive as the brusque and bawdy Mrs Bennet and the ever aloof Mr Darcy. She is well supported by Eleanor Kane who flits between various parts but is at her most uproariously funny as the headstrong Mary Bennet. All five demonstrate good physical comedy skills – a hilarious horse ride being a highlight of the piece. Watch out too for Mr Bennet, an ‘unfathomable performance’, quite brilliantly executed.
Musical supervisor Colin Grenfell oversees a score of karaoke favourites such as You’re So Vain, Holding Out For A Hero and rousing rendition of Young Hearts Run Free, and while some of the singing may be a bit rough and ready, it works with the concept of the piece.
If the novelty of that concept wears a bit thin mid-Act 1, and even more so towards the end of the play, it’s as a direct result of the sheer amount of exposition required to get the bones of the novel across, thankfully there’s enough anarchy woven in to proceedings to hold the attention right to the end – just be warned, this is no BBC period drama.
Festival Theatre run ends Saturday 26 April, tickets here.
Tour dates and tickets here.
