'Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of)' Review
Venue: The Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly
Dates: 2 November - 17 April 2022
OUR VERDICT:
I love Pride and Prejudice. I have watched the 2005 adaptation a number of times, worked my way through the BBC series and own a well-thumbed copy. I approach Pride and Prejudice earnestly, and incredibly seriously.
This seriousness, however, is challenged from the very beginning of Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of). As I creep into my seat, the performers are already on stage, acting out a sequence of cleaning, dusting, and mopping as we filter in, pantomiming the loss of Marigolds and a number of near-misses involving valuable items.
This is not your typical Austen.
Matt Crockett
As the show starts, you also are quickly made aware that this performance does not arise from the clipped accented, Kiera Knightley school of Austen adaptations.
These women are all strong-accented servants - who claim to be the reason behind every coupling in the Regency period.
Determined to prove themselves correct, they begin acting out their most successful example of match-making - enter the Bennet family.
There are five actors on stage, but ten, if not fifteen, characters are created through simple costume changes. Over their white pinafores, the servants are transformed into the Caroline Bingleys, the Mr Collins’ and the Mr Darcys that they wait on day and night.
Matt Crockett
Hannah Jarrett-Scott, who plays both Bingley and Caroline, along with others, is a master of the snappy character change.
Her performance of Bingley, a slightly thick but well-meaning public-school type, is phenomenal, but Caroline Bingley is the character that blows me away.
I never thought I would want to see more of Caroline, but Jarrett-Scott makes her posh, needy, bitchy, and very, very funny.
Jarrett-Scott epitomises the purpose of the performance - there are quick looks and underhand quips, but the humour makes Austen accessible to any audience member.
Meghan Tyler, who acts Elizabeth Bennet throughout, reminds me of Diane Morgan.
There’s something about her facial expressions and her sense of humour that brings to mind a Regencycore Liz from Motherland.
Although her exaggerated displays are humorous, she also manages to more subtly make the audience chuckle, particularly in the near-silent interactions she has with Darcy (played by Isobel McArthur).
The explanations and exaggerations that the servants occasionally offer also help shed a light on some of the nuances of Austen’s writings that some readers might overlook.
The improprieties of Mrs Bennet and the younger Bennet sisters, for example, make it perfectly clear why Mr Darcy would be wary of the family.
Meanwhile, the reasons behind Elizabeth’s distress at Lydia’s disappearance with Mr Wickham are elaborately laid out to reflect the attitudes of the time.
The play is then made suitable both for those with an in-depth understanding of Austen, or who only know the plot in the vaguest of senses.
Some scenes are combined for the sake of time, and the costume changes are quick, sometimes slapdash, but neither of these things is a detriment to the performance itself.
It took me a while to realise that Isobel McArthur, who plays Darcy and Mrs Bennet, among others, directed the play. She should be very proud.
There are hundreds of Austen adaptations out there, but none quite like this one.
