Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of)

Isobel McArthur after Jane Austen
Newcastle Theatre Royal
The Lyric, Theatre Royal Plymouth

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Emma Rose Creaner, Rhianna McGreevy and Christine Steel Credit: Mihaela Bodlovic

What fun.

Five super-talented actors multi-role, multi-accent and mutate the Jane Austen classic Pride and Prejudice for an award-winning, laugh-out-loud, delightful evening.

The conceit is that five servant girls, integral to any Austen novel—delivering letters changing sheets and topping up drinks but with no happy-ever-after or love interest—have all seen their masters naked. Physically, mentally and emotionally. And, donning marigolds, Doc Martens and a series of tailcoats, dresses and finery over their chemises, they (*sort of) re-enact the 1813 classic.

Emma Rose Creaner’s natural Irish lilt is perfect as she leads the crew as feisty Tillie tripling up as the affable Pringle-loving Charles Bingley, his ghastly sister Caroline and closet lesbian Charlotte, adding recorder and comedy in spades. Outstanding.

Christine Steel is the beautiful inside and out, butter-wouldn’t-melt, demure Jane who would "even look nice lacquered in shit". Her polite, sweet and biddable nature is the Bennett family’s best hope of avoiding financial ruin. She doubles up as the horrendous snob with teeth the colour of skirting boards, Rosing Park’s very own ‘Lady In Red’, the monstrous Lady Catherine.

Centre stage is sassy and sarky Elizabeth, played to perfection by Naomi Preston-Low, as she rejects proposals and promotes women as not mere chattels—to the utter despair of her mother. The burgeoning and difficult relationship with the taciturn, young, free and minted Darcy is believable and somewhere on the spectrum. A quick fag by the Aust-bins almost catapults her into the arms of teenage abductor Wickham after a fab rendition of “You’re So Vain” aimed at the awkward seeming-snob, but her chaotic young sister Lydia (Susie Barrett who also plays the creepy Mr Collins) is more his type.

Rhianna McGreevy is excellent as the aloof Darcy as well as raucous as wine-and-anxiety-ridden harridan Mrs Bennett pimping her daughters out at the Meryton Ball and sending Jane out on horseback in the pouring rain to trap her man.

Add a desperate-to-perform sister Mary, a piano, the frustratingly silent Mr Bennett (a wing chair and newspaper), décor, entertainment—plenty of karaoke-type songs and great harmonies—piano, food, slapstick and a Ming vase, and what’s not to like?

Also responsible for the apposite costumes, Ana Inés Jabarares-Pita has created a simple and versatile set with books galore, sweeping staircase and the obligatory doors, while Isobel McArthur’s script is funny, silly and with plenty of modern-day references.

Fab. I'd go again.

Reviewer: Karen Bussell

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