It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen’s 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice hugely captivates, amuses and entertains with its romantic intrigues of love, matchmaking, seduction and marriages of convenience. All the while, Austen pokes fun, too, at her characters’ foibles and subtly criticises the social set-ups of the day, especially as regards money, class and gender roles. All this she does gently and with decorum.
Isobel McArthur’s stage version, Pride and Prejudice (*sort of), on the other hand, strips away every vestige of decorum, gentility and subtlety in favour of twenty-first century loud, manic, outspoken, vulgar, uncouth, profane brashness – with karaoke, piano, accordion, trumpet and harp. The piece has the feel of a riotously witty, silly student review, but it’s one beautifully coated with an impressive polish of slick direction, fabulously inventive costumes and set that reflect the story’s original period, and five devoted, vibrant, energetic female performers, whose sense of fun and enjoyment radiates afar. Plenty of rapturous beings stand to ovate at the end, and not all of them only because they like to laugh like drains every time they hear the “f” word.
In producing this well-oiled, cleverly orchestrated, well-timed comic bedlam, each of five women assumes several character roles as well as singing and instrument-playing. For over two hours the words and different regional accents shoot across the stage as fast and furious as the lightning transitions that propel the women back and forth from one role to another, costumes and props swapped in a miraculous instant. Yet, for all the comedy and one-dimensional caricature, the story isn’t lost, and the audience still find the characters, for all their roughness, likeable enough to buy into the romances (*sort of), including the more demure Charlotte Lucas’s crush on Lizzie.
Writer and co-director Isabel McArthur yo-yos between wild, reckless Northerner, Mrs Bennet, and dour, misanthropic Scot, Darcy. But first, like the others, she starts out in a cream shift as a “servant”, representing a huge sector of society almost invisible in literature and whose personal lives as human beings Austen never mentions. (Austen also goes a bit Fawlty Towers when it comes to mentioning the war – Napoleonic.) McArthur’s maids add a little extra comment and narration around the edges, plus feather dusters and Marigolds, but it does feel like an unnecessary add-on. Their cream shifts and big, black boots, though, are wonderful: with appropriate coat a-top, Bingley and Darcy can come and go in a surreal trice. The costumes and hair are particularly pleasing. Lady Catherine de Bourgh appears in a frilly mass of red as her nephew Chris’s song is sung – Lady in Red; akin to Ab Fab’s Bubble, poor, bespectacled Mary, constantly victimised for her singing even though she’s no worse than the rest, appears in flounces of pink. The very mobile props are a delight, too, a period chaise-longue and grand white staircase (with useful doors underneath) and painted, rural backdrop sitting alongside bottles, cans, Wagon Wheels, Ferrero Rocher and a Pringles can that dim Mr Bingley gets his hand stuck in. The karaoke box gets everywhere, You’re So Vain being an obvious choice while it’s handy for a set of loud, brash sisters (apart from Kitty who never appears) to explain that they’re Holding Out for a Hero.
Some of the un-nuanced caricatures work better than others in a longish show that hurtles along all in the same vein, but there are plenty of fine comedy moments while the music played live on piano, harp, accordion and trumpet add fresh interest and enjoyment, and, with things rarely static, fun and energy shine through to the end.
Eileen Caiger Gray
The show tours until next June to Salford, Newcastle, Coventry, Richmond, Chichester, Cheltenham, Inverness, Cardiff, Nottingham, Eastbourne, Chester, Birmingham, Leeds, Blackpool, Bristol, Truro, Malvern and Norwich. You can find out more by following this link.
