Pride and Prejudice (sort of)

Oh, what fun we had with a real corker of the Jane Austen classic Pride and Prejudice.

The novelist’s 18^th century look at the English landed gentry was swept aside with a frenzy of well, complete daftness and had the audience at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh in stitches.

Writer Isobel McArthur has taken out the old-fashioned and turned the well-known story into a musical, featuring five women pretending to be raucous below stairs staff.

The result is two and a bit hours of hilarious, fast-moving and role swopping brilliance, played out by a high energy cast and some non-human props, with all the characters from the Bennets and Bingleys to the snooty Fitzwilliam Darcy thrown in.

With a strong cast made up of the super funny five, Rhianna McGreevy, Eleanor Kane, Isobel Donkin, Christine Steel and Naomi Preston Low, it’s laughs all the way, while staying true to the original story.

Peppered with karaoke hits, from Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain, to Chris de Burgh’s Lady in Red in a nod to Mr Darcy’s strict aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, whose aim in life is to keep Elizabeth Bennet away from her nephew, all the actors have not only brilliant singing voices, but fabulous comic timing too.

The father of the Bennet house is portrayed through an armchair with its back to the stage, with only a newspaper and pipe smoke on view and Mrs Bennet takes her frustration out on it, in such a way that the joke never gets boring.

The simple stripped back set and costumes by Ana Ines Jabares-Pita, all worn over the “staff” make the character changes super-fast and the musical goes at a pace with its sweary, theatrical and one liner gagged show a real tonic.

With an audience made up of lots of teenagers prepared to abandon theatre protocol and whoop, scream and clap along, this fun adaptation of a true classic is just a joy to watch and makes you want to study English Literature all over again!

Pride and Prejudice (sort of) is showing at The Festival Theatre in Edinburgh until Saturday, 26^th April and then moves to Aberdeen His Majesty’s Theatre between 29^th April and 3^rd May, Marlowe from 6^th to 10^th May, Lichfield Garrick, 13^th to 17^th May, Watford Palace, 19^th to 24^th May, Leeds Grand, 26^th to 31^st May, Exeter Northcott, 3^rd to 7^th June, with the final performances of the tour at the Southampton Mayflower from 10^th to 14^th June 2025.

For ticket prices and availability, check out www.capitaltheatres.com or visit: www.prideandprejudicesortof.com.

Author Bio:

Rebecca Hay is an experienced travel writer and member of The British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures with her family on Twitter and Instagram @emojiadventurer and on Facebook via EmojiAdventurers2.

Photographs by Mihaela Bodlovic