Amy Child and Ana Balanici
The West End success Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), which won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy in 2022, comes to the Nottingham Theatre Royal between 27th March and 1st of April. The play is a unique retelling of Jane Austen’s beloved and iconic love story between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. Impact’s Amy Child and Ana Balanici review.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that this play was a fun (if slightly chaotic), way to spend an evening. When it comes to parody plays like this, we’re never sure how closely we can expect to stick to the source material, but for all its comic touches, this play told Austen’s story remarkably faithfully. Granted, there were liberties taken with historical accuracy (Tesco bags, Frosties and Wagon Wheels all feature, for instance), but all in all the plot was essentially true to the book.
With costumes, body language, and accents changing rapidly between parts, you could easily tell how talented they were
We will say that this play took us both some time to warm to. Whilst the humour picked up significantly as it went along (both of us preferred the second half), some of the jokes were goofy at times and came off a little flat. The comedy wasn’t entirely consistent, nor witty, but it was silly, it was engaging, it was light-hearted fun, and on the whole, it was really enjoyable.
This was largely due to the excellence of the cast. There were only five actresses, but they multi-rolled so many characters between them that it felt like we were watching a much larger cast. With costumes, body language, and accents changing rapidly between parts, you could easily tell how talented they were.
We particularly loved the performances of Leah Jamieson, who always won laughs with her lines and killed it as Mr Collins, and Dannie Harris, who carried off both Mrs Bennett and Mr Darcy brilliantly. She had amazing energy and was hilarious as both characters. Moreover, she conveyed Darcy’s nature, from awkwardness to charm, really well. Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s (Emmy Stonelake) dynamic was also great; the romantic tension was palpable, and by the end, they were really endearing.
it became one of those things so self-aware of its awkwardness that we had no choice but to embrace the fun side
Furthermore, there was a playful and creative use of lighting and set. Our personal faves were the armchair facing away from the stage as ‘Mr Bennett’; the spray bottle filled with water as ‘rain’; and the ‘portrait’ of Mr Darcy which consisted of a frame with the actress posing behind. There was also some clever fourth-wall breaking with the household servants, who took a more active role in the story, casually calling out Austen for ignoring her lower-class characters. The pace was kept lively, with action always happening onstage (no slow Austen plots here!)
We should mention, too, that this play contains songs. Even now, we’re unsure how to feel about them. They weren’t weaved in naturally, as in a conventional musical, and the song choices themselves were certainly strange. However, it became one of those things so self-aware of its awkwardness that we had no choice but to embrace the fun side. On the whole, they added to the chaos, which can’t be called a bad thing.
We’d definitely recommend this show for fans of the original Pride and Prejudice, who fancy seeing Austen’s classic in an entirely new, fun light. It’s silly, yes, but impossible not to enjoy.
Amy Child and Ana Balanici
Featured image courtesy of Alex Watkin. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
In-article image courtesy of @prideandprejudicesortof via @instagram.com. No changes were made to this image.
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