PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (sort of) AT THE ARTS THEATRE
If you imagine a comic Pride and Prejudice might be a reduction of the famous book, think again. This is the Jane Austen classic all right, every detail and character is in there. But here suddenly is a modern dynamic production where the story is, unbelievably, made clearer, more true to life, poignant unpredictable and engaging. And the entire production is a party, it stretches from the modest Meryton village festival to the grandeur of the Netherfield Hall Ball, the action does not stop
The servants open the play. They clean and dust, in their plain long under-frocks, as the audience settle into their seats - the servants sing “Write the Book” .As the play gets underway, they complain that love affairs, dramatic meetings and heartbreaks all happen to the people who employ them. But who is there to make it all work smoothly ?- From chamberpot-emptying to clearing the clutter of the previous party their. lives run parallel to all these adventures of the gentry.. They are not very happy, their future is bleak and predictable. But It is the real world. Women servants dominated any large household in Austen’s time, as the war against Napoleon claimed the male lackeys as soldiers.
The Bennet women at home.
When we meet the five Bennet sisters, daughters of the house, they emerge, cunningly cast, as the same people. The dynamism, the drama and the hilarity of these desperate daughters (if they don’t marry, the play emphasises, they will lose not just their home but everything they possess and will be destitute.) They need to make, I didn’t know this, just one marriage so a man will be able to inherit their father’s estate. Otherwise it is the open road for all of them. No wonder the atmosphere is charged with electric expectation when not one but two eligible bachelors move into their neighbourhood. The stakes are high, Mrs. Bennet played with high hysteria by Isobel McArthur herself, is a monument of top octane anxiety whilst Mr. Bennet never speaks at all. He is a newspaper propped in a chair for all the good he is. Literally.
Amazing cast play and sing a new Pride and Prejudice
Writer Isobel McArthur hails from the West Coast of Scotland and got together with the Tron theatre of Glasgow to conceive a Pride and Prejudice true to life for our times. She had never read the book until she found an old second hand copy and sat down with it aged 28 years old. In it she saw a story which would work for all times. Preconceptions about Austen as limited, small minded and posh go out of the window in this brilliant version. ”In my honest opinion Pride and Prejudice is not an easy read” she says "It is based on the reality of Austen’s society - but explores the truths of real romance for any time It is a love story” and asks “Can you love someone else,flaws and all, before you’ve honestly acknowledged your own shortcomings?”
Lovely Jane the winsome eldest daughter, played by Christina Gordon falls for a fabulously louche Mr. Bingley,(Hannah Jarrett-Scott)- a combination of Boris Johnson and Tim Nice-but-Dim - in a hilarious rendition of an instantly recognisable type of man. For all his vagueness Jane is smitten and just as quickly appears centre stage to sing “Will. You still Love Me Tomorrow?” Carole King’s number is perfect. Leah Jamieson as outspoken Elizabeth Bennet takes us through a riotously contemporary role. Her encounter with the odious Mr. Collins who tries to propose three times (if you remember the book) is brilliantly done, as is her defiance of the appalling Caroline Bingley . The monstrously snobbish ‘condescending’ Lady Catherine de Bourgh makes a magnificent appearance, though does not daunt this civil but steady Miss Elizabeth Bennet She goes on to melt hearts in her final contrition to Mr. Darcy who ,with the wonder of theatre at work, is played by the amazing Isobel McArthur - the stand out performance in a stellar cast of some of the most astonishingly gifted actors. Lucy Gray and Emmy Stonelake were fabulous among them, as was Tori Burgess - the scene changes were so swift, the costume swaps so slick and the scenery so miraculously shifted,it is hard to say who was who. Except Mary finished the play with a full on performance right up the impressive staircase, of ‘Young Hearts, Run Free’ as well she might as she’s been told to shut up for the entire play .
Has everyone got it now? Spontaneous, musically hilarious. Must see!
The show is at the Cambridge Arts Theatre until Saturday 19th Nov.
